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Working Papers Series on
Social Responsibility
Ethics & Sustainable Business
Volume 3, 2014
Facultat de Comunicació i Relacions Internacionals
Blanquerna - Universitat Ramon Llull
© 2014, Editura ASE. Bucharest, Romania.
All rights are reserved. This publication cannot be copied, reproduced or reprinted without the prior written consent from Editura ASE. ISSN: 2285-7222 ISSN-L: 2285-7222
Facultat de Comunicació i Relacions Internacionals
Blanquerna - Universitat Ramon Llull
3rd International Conference on Social Responsibility, Ethics, and Sustainable Business
Barcelona, Catalonia-Spain, October 9 & 10, 2014
WORKING PAPERS SERIES ON SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY, ETHICS AND SUSTAINABLE
BUSINESS
Volume 3, 2014
Editura ASE
4
EDITORS
Dr. Georgiana Florentina GRIGORE Dr. Josep ROM
Dr. Enric ORDEIX Dr. Alin STANCUDr. Irina-Eugenia IAMANDI Ghiorghiță ACATRINEI
SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
Dr. Georgiana F. Grigore, Bournemouth University, UK
Dr. Enric Ordeix, Ramon Llull University, Barcelona, Spain
Dr. Alin Stancu, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania
Dr. Anastasios Theofilou, Bournemouth University, UK
Dr. Dan Jackson, Bournemouth University, UK
Prof. David Crowther, DeMontfort University, UK
Dr. Cristian Ducu, Centre for Advanced Research in Management and Applied Ethics, Romania
Dr. Tim Breitbarth, Bournemouth University, UK
Prof. Tom Watson, Bournemouth University, UK
Dr. Josep Rom, Ramon Llull University, Catalonia-Spain
Dr. Jordi Botey, Ramon Llull University, Catalonia-Spain
Prof. Rodica Milena Zaharia, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania
Dr. Anthony Samuel, University of South Wales, Pontypridd, Wales, UK
Dr. Umit Alniacik, Kocaeli University, Turkey
Dr. Ioannis Krasonikolakis, University of Southampton,UK
The authors of the papers bear the full responsibility for their content, accuracy, ideas and expression. The views presented in this volume are the ones of the individual authors and they do not necessarily reflect the
position of the editors or any other entity.
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Contents
1. E-COMMUNICATING CSR - A CAMPAIGN ANALYSIS FROM ROMANIA ...............................11
Carmen Acatrinei...............................................................................................................................11
2. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN SMALL AND MEDIUM INDUSTRIES: ENVIRONMENTALLY RELATED CSR INITIATIVES FOR BUSINESS STRATEGISING ..........11
Jamilah Ahmad, Mahadevan Krishnan...............................................................................................11
3. POSITIONING OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN MEDIA REPORTING: THE ROLE OF MEDIA SETTING ....................................................................................................12
Jamilah Ahmad, Suriati Saad .............................................................................................................12
4. IS THE BUSINESS IN VLORA CITY RUNNING IN AN ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIBLE MANNER?...............................................................................................................12
Lorena Alikaj, Fjona Zeneli ...............................................................................................................12
5. INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT AND SUSTAINABLE ENTREPRENEURSHIP: GLOBAL EVIDENCE ........................................................................................................................................13
Abdullah A. Alshwer, Doan E. Winkel, Jeff Vanevenhoven ..............................................................13
6. THE PAH, AN EXAMPLE OF LOBBYING ROOTED IN SOCIAL ACTIVISM..............................14
Cristina Ardanuy ...............................................................................................................................14
7. USING FACTOR ANALYSIS METHOD TO IDENTIFY FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THE LEVEL OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMPANIES LISTED ON THE BUCHAREST STOCK EXCHANGE.................................................................................................15
Mary Violeta Bar (Petrescu) ..............................................................................................................15
8. CSR ACTIONS IN SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ...........................................................15
Petronela – Evelina Bălu....................................................................................................................15
9. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND TEMPORARY WORKERS - MANIFESTATIONS AND DILEMMAS ...........................................................................................16
Izabela Bednarska - Wnuk .................................................................................................................16
10. NEW METRICS ON GENERATION AND DISPOSAL OF ELECTRONIC WASTE TO CORPORATE GOVERNANCE .........................................................................................................16
Paulo Ernani Bergamo dos Santos .....................................................................................................16
11. EXPLORING STAKEHOLDER PERSPECTIVES AS COMPLEMENTS TO TOP MANAGEMENT TEAM STRATEGY MAKING FUNCTION; EVALUATING AND ADVISING ON FIRM LEVEL STRATEGY IN THE EMERGING ECONOMY OF INDIA.............17
Som Sekhar Bhattacharyya ................................................................................................................17
12. THE BAIKAL REGION’S NATIONAL ETHNIC AND ECOLOGICAL TRADITIONS AS THE SOURCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS......................................................................................19
Irina Boldonova.................................................................................................................................19
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13. THE CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY IN THE ELECTRIC VEHICLE COMMUNICATION..........................................................................................................................19
Jordi Botey, Ramon Martin................................................................................................................19
14. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY DEVELOPMENT IN ROMANIAN HIGHER EDUCATION: IS THIS THE REACTION OF PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES TO SIGNIFICANTCHANGES REGARDING COMPETITORS, PUBLIC FUNDING AND LABOUR MARKET?.........................................................................................................................20
Georgiana Camelia Crețan .................................................................................................................20
15. SOCIAL INNOVATIONS OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AS THE MAIN COMPONENT OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY .......................................................20
Danchenok Larisa Aleksandrovna, Ivanova-Shvets Ludmila Nikolaevna, Zhidkova Olga Nikolaevna ........................................................................................................................................21
16. BIOETHICS AND CONSCIOUS CAPITALISM: A NEW APPROACH FOR BUSINESS ORGANISATIONS IN THE HEALTH CARE SECTOR ...................................................................21
Simeon Davies...................................................................................................................................21
17. SUSTAINABLE INNOVATIONS AND CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN THE EUROPEAN ELECTRICITY INDUSTRY.........................................................................................22
Nikolett Deutsch................................................................................................................................22
18. A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF CODES OF ETHICS: COMPARING GENERAL AND LOCAL CODES OF ETHICS ADOPTED BY MULTINATIONAL BANKS ..................................................22
Iulia Drajneanu..................................................................................................................................22
19. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN A RETAIL TRADE COMPANY ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE SWISS COMPANY MIGROS ..........................................................................23
Marek Drzazga ..................................................................................................................................23
20. ASSESSING RESPONSIBLE SOURCING AS PART OF CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY. A CASE STUDY: EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES ..............................................................................24
Cristian Ducu, Diana Cosmina Trifu..................................................................................................24
21. EXAMINING THE CYCLING HABITS OF CHILDREN IN EDUCATION AGE WHEN PLANNING SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION .........................................................................24
Sedef Eryiğit, Ümmügülsüm Ter .......................................................................................................24
22. APPLIED ETHICS IN THE FASHION BUSINESS...........................................................................25
Adriana Gîrneață ...............................................................................................................................25
23. ECO - LABELING AS A TOOL OF CSR ..........................................................................................25
Urszula Golaszewska-Kaczan, Anna Śleszynska-Swiderska, Marek Kruk .........................................25
24. THE CHANGING DYNAMICS AND VALUES IN HIGHER EDUCATION EVALUATION IN THE CONCEPT OF THE INFORMATION AGE: FRANCHISING- THE MCDONALDIZATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION, FULL-SIZED BRANCH CAMPUSES IN CHINA AND IN THE UK TO BE FUNDED EXAMPLES OF RESEARCH .....................................26
Hasan Kürşat Güleş, Emine Nihan Cici Karaboğa, Kazım Karaboğa..................................................26
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25. THE HEROES, VILLAINS AND DAMSELS IN DISTRESS OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBLY.............26
Georgiana Grigore, Mike Molesworth ...............................................................................................26
26. FINANCIAL SERVICE PROVIDERS’ SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY TO DEVELOP BROAD-SCOPE TRUST ..................................................................................................................................27
Torben Hansen, Lars Grønholdt, Alexander Josiassen, Anne Martensen ............................................27
27. PROUD TO BE SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE: AN EXAMINATION OF THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, PRIDE IN MEMBERSHIP, JOB SATISFACTION AND EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT......................................................................27
Ali Imran...........................................................................................................................................27
28. THE EFFECT OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY ON INDIVIDUAL INTENTIONS TOWARD SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE TOURISM FIRMS ...............................................................................28
Fatih Koc, Umit Alniacik, M. Emin Akkilic, Ilbey Varol ...................................................................28
29. PIQ & LEAD™ HIGHER EDUCATION MODEL – SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY - WELL-BEING................................................................................................................................................28
László Kovács ...................................................................................................................................28
30. THE PENETRATION OF LOCAL CURRENCIES IN HUNGARY...................................................29
Tamás Kovács ...................................................................................................................................29
31. ETHICAL CONCERNS FOR MARKETING RESEARCH IN 3D ONLINE ENVIRONMENTS.......29
Ioannis Krasonikolakis, Nancy Pouloudi............................................................................................29
32. NON-PROFIT SPONSORSHIP IN LIGA BBVA. THE CASE OF FC BARCELONA, MÁLAGA CF AND GRANADA CF..................................................................................................30
Gema Lobillo, Xavier Ginesta ...........................................................................................................30
33. SOCIAL MEDIA USE IN NGO MARKETING CAMPAINGNS – CASE STUDIES FROM POLAND............................................................................................................................................30
Lewicki Marcin .................................................................................................................................30
34. CROWDFUNDING AND THE MARKETING OF THE THIRD SECTOR. THE QUEST FOR EFFICIENCY IN CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGNS........................................................................31
Judit Mata, Josep Rom, Pere Masip ...................................................................................................31
35. A SURVEY-BASED ANALYSIS REGARDING CSR PRACTICES IN THE ROMANIAN TOURISM DISTRIBUTION SECTOR ..............................................................................................31
Ovidiu I. Moisescu ............................................................................................................................31
36. SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF FINANCIAL CORPORATIONS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT...............................................................................................................................32
Ioana Andrada Moldovan (Gavril) .....................................................................................................32
37. THE MEDICAL SERVICES IN ROMANIA IN TERMS OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY...............32
Ana-Madalina Potcovaru ...................................................................................................................32
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38. CORPORTE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, INNOVATION AND TOP MANAGEMENT TEAM VALUES OF ANDALUSIAN SMEs..................................................................................................33
Susana Ortega González, Gloria Cuevas Rodríguez ...........................................................................33
39. EFFECT OF COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES ON SMALL FIRMS’ SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ENGAGEMENT.................................................................................................34
Rajat Panwar, Erlend Nybakk, Eric Hansen, Jonatan Pinkse ..............................................................34
40. WHAT IS THE CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PUBLIC FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS IN SUPPORTING THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT? .................34
Anett Parádi-Dolgos, Zoltán Urbán, Veronika Gál .............................................................................34
41. GREEN BANKING – CAN CSR HELP TO REACH SUSTAINABLE BANKING? .........................35
Éva Pintér..........................................................................................................................................35
42. CSR AT GREENPEACE – STAKEHOLDER COMMUNICATIONS AFTER A SCANDAL............35
Wybe Popma .....................................................................................................................................35
43. BUSINESS SUSTAINABILITY, SCALABILITY AND ADAPTABILITY REACHED THROUGH THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A CIRCULAR STRATEGIC MODEL..........................36
Răzvan Rădulescu .............................................................................................................................36
44. INVESTIGATING CONSUMER SCEPTICISM TOWARDS CSR IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY ...................................................................................................37
Evie Ranscombe, Anastasios Theofilou, Georgiana Grigore ..............................................................37
45. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN SPORT CLUBS IN POLAND .................................37
Agnieszka Rak...................................................................................................................................37
46. CREATING THE BRAND IMAGE OF POLISH CORPORATE FOUNDATIONS ...........................38
Mateusz Rak......................................................................................................................................38
47. ELECTRIC VEHICLES AND THE NEW IDENTITY OF THE SMART CITIES. TRANSPORT POLICIES AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE CITY BRAND IN MILTON KEYNES AND BARCELONA....................................................................................................................................38
Josep Rom, T. O’Sullivan, Enric Ordeix, S. Potter.............................................................................38
48. CSR AS A TOOL FOR CRISIS MANAGEMENT .............................................................................39
Mehroz Sajjad, Dora Gonzalez ..........................................................................................................39
49. ETHICAL CONSUMPTION FROM PEOPLE TO PLACE: FAIRTRADE TOWNS PROMOTING AND DEVELOPING COLLECTIVE, INSTITUTIONAL AND CIVIC ETHICAL CONSUMPTION IN ‘OUR TOWN ...................................................................................40
Anthony Samuel ................................................................................................................................40
50. THE STORY OF BRADDOCK PENNSYLVANIA: CORPORATE PHILANTHROPY AND ITS ROLE IN REIMAGINING PLACE AND DEVELOPING SOCIAL ENTERPRISE ....................40
Anthony Samuel, Dan Taylor ............................................................................................................40
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51. SUSTAINABILITY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL TOURISM IN BRAZIL...........................................41
Silvério Marcelo dos Santos, Cleto Bárbara Fernanda Alves..............................................................41
52. NEW TRENDS IN COMMUNICATION OF SOCIAL CAUSES: CAUSE-RELATED MARKETING IN AGE 2.0.................................................................................................................41
Carolina Sorribas Morales, Eva Santana, Enric Ordeix ......................................................................41
53. GREENWASHING AS A SYMPTOM OF CSR’S PATHOLOGY.....................................................42
Ilona Swiatek-Barylska......................................................................................................................42
54. STRATEGIC CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND LOCAL HEALTH ACTIVISM: AN EXPLORATION INTO THE CASE OF NOVARTIS’ ISSUES MANAGEMENT................................................................................................................................42
KyuJin Shim......................................................................................................................................42
55. ASPECTS ABOUT ETHICAL CLIMATE IN ORGANIZATIONS....................................................43
Aurelia Stănescu................................................................................................................................43
56. THE SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE LOCAL CURRENCIES...............................................................43
Károly Szóka .....................................................................................................................................43
57. STUDY REGARDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF ROMANIAN LEGAL FRAMEWORK ACCORDING TO THE EUROPEAN UNION CORPORATE GOVERNANCE REGULATIONS ................................................................................................................................44
Ramona Iulia Țarțavulea (Dieaconescu).............................................................................................44
58. IN THE CLUB BUT OUT OF THE GAME – EVALUATION OF GHANA CLUB 100 CSR COMMUNICATION..........................................................................................................................45
Ralph Tench, Mavis Amo-Mensah.....................................................................................................45
59. URBAN IDENTITY AND SUSTAINABILITY IN HISTORIC CITIES ............................................45
Ümmügülsüm Ter..............................................................................................................................45
60. THE INTERACTION OF MNCS AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES: AN ANALYSIS OF STAKEHOLDER DIALOGUE DISCOURSE FROM GEITA, TANZANIA ......................................46
Albert Tibaijuka ................................................................................................................................46
61. SHAREHOLDER ENGAGEMENT ON CSR ISSUES: INTERNAL PROCESS OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY......................................................................................47
Katerina Tsetsura, Nur Uysal .............................................................................................................47
62. CALCULATED INDIFFERENCE: STAKEHOLDER PERCEPTIONS OF CSR IN HIGHER EDUCATION.....................................................................................................................................47
Anastasios Theofilou, Dan Jackson, Rebecca Jenkins ........................................................................47
63. ONLINE VISIBILITY OF CSR THROUGH THE WEB. A CSR WEBSITE ANALYSIS IN A SAMPLE OF SPANISH FOOD INDUSTRY .....................................................................................48
Clara de Uribe ...................................................................................................................................48
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64. DIMENSIONS OF STRATEGIC CORPORATE PARTNERSHIPS: THE CASE OF INTERNATIONAL NGOS FROM ROMANIA..................................................................................49
Andreea Angela Vonțea, Alin Stancu.................................................................................................49
65. ASSURING CUSTOMER'S PRIVACY - A KEY TO SUSTAINABLE BUSINESSES......................49
Călin Vegheș, Mihai Orzan, Carmen Acatrinei ..................................................................................49
66. NEXT GENERATION CSR - TOWARDS RESPONSIBLE INNOVATION .....................................50
Rafal Wodzisz, Rafał Krzemianowski................................................................................................50
67. COMMUNICATING CSR IN THE PRACTICE OF POLISH COMPANIES .....................................50
Przemyslaw Wolczek.........................................................................................................................50
68. PROMOTING CATALAN CULTURE TO THE UNITED NATIONS – AN OPPORTUNITY FOR NON STATE CULTURAL DIPLOMACY ................................................................................51
Lisa R. White.....................................................................................................................................51
69. DOES WATER BRING MONEY?-CASE OF VLORA CITY............................................................53
Fjona Zeneli, Lorena Alikaj ...............................................................................................................53
70. THE GROUPING OF COMPANIES AS TOOL TO INTEGRATE THE PRACTICES OF THE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN SME................................................................................................54
Adel Fatima Zohra.............................................................................................................................54
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E-COMMUNICATING CSR - A CAMPAIGN ANALYSIS FROM ROMANIA
Carmen Acatrinei The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania
The online environment offers a wide range of instruments that can be used by companies in order to promote their brands, products, services or events. Online advertising tools (e.g. display ads, Facebook ads, search ads etc.) can be implemented for corporate social responsibility (hereafter CSR) initiatives, CSR communications and CSR advertisements (Perks et al., 2013, p. 1882). The paper analyses a CSR campaign implemented in Romania by a well-known multinational company with the purpose of raising the needed amount of money in order to fund a children's hospital from Bucharest for buying a tomographic computer. There are presented the traditional and online communication tools employed, as well as the results obtained - which exceeded by 20% the settled objectives. The great number of blogs and news websites that promoted the campaign for its creative idea and great scope was surprising. On one hand, promoting CSR campaigns on social networking sites help companies to enhance consumer engagement with their brands and facilitate viral marketing and, on the other hand, users are more likely to join or invite friends to support causes and show good citizenship (Jeong, Paek, Lee, 2013, p. 1890). Still, except from its website, the company only used display online ads (specifically banners) and designed a social app on Facebook in order to promote the campaign in the online environment. Since the aim of CSR campaigns is not to invest a lot in advertising, but to find cost effective solutions that will get people aware of the issues and engage them in fundraising programs, companies should dedicate more time and budget to design online communication campaigns that integrate more the online advertising tools available. Acknowledgement: This work was cofinanced from the European Social Fund through Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2007-2013, project number POSDRU/159/1.5/S/134197 „Performance and excellence in doctoral and postdoctoral research in Romanian economics science domain”.
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN SMALL AND MEDIUM INDUSTRIES:
ENVIRONMENTALLY RELATED CSR INITIATIVES FOR BUSINESS STRATEGISING
Jamilah Ahmad, Mahadevan Krishnan Universiti Sains Malaysia,Penang, Malaysia
The practice of social and environmental responsibility is inevitably vital in industries as such activities impact the society through their operations, products and services offered. Through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), companies are able to contribute to sustainable development while contributing to the protection of the environment by the usage of natural resources in a responsible manner. However in most cases, CSR has been regarded as a burden to business operations rather than a significant and direct contributor towards business revenue. Research in Malaysia found that SMEs practised CSR because of their own beliefs, values and religious thoughts which does not contribute towards business strategy but merely as a public relations act. Being part of the supply chain and catering their products to larger organisations or in some cases catering directly to the end customer, Small and Medium Industries (SMEs) are responsible to ensure their products are suited to present demands of various stakeholders. This study aims to understand the perception on environmentally related initiatives taken-up by selected SMEs. In-depth interview is employed as to gauge the response from the selected SME representatives. The research would be significant to understand better on the positioning of SMEs taking-up environmentally related CSR practices from a strategic perspective which is the ‘built-in’ concept into the organisation strategy. With businesses facing demands from various stakeholders, it is expected that SMEs are expected to take-up / design their CSR activities for sustainable outcomes and not merely as philanthropy.
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POSITIONING OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN MEDIA REPORTING: THE ROLE OF
MEDIA SETTING
Jamilah Ahmad, Suriati Saad Universiti Sains Malaysia,Penang, Malaysia
Media has the capability to disseminate message and influence audience in developing perception, opinion or decision making. Media play an indispensable role in the dialogues around Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). In addition to its function as an independent monitor for corporations media often act as a channel through which corporations communicate to the public. How media tell their stories about CSR have significant impacts on the public and policy makers expectations of companies and eventually influence the decision as of to what extent companies will conduct their business in a socially responsible manner. In order to understand how acceptance and behavior surrounding CSR develops, it is necessary to explore how the meaning and content of CSR are created. This article examine how mainstream newspapers portray and focus on issues, stakeholders, motives and implementation in carrying out CSR program and activities. This article also examines how the media has framed and presented CSR for the period of one year (Jan 2013-Disember 2013). Based on how CSR is presented in these two top newspapers of English and Malay medium, a framework for understanding the role of media setting for corporate CSR agenda. The results confirm that media contributes to the construction of what CSR means in corporate practice by creating links between CSR and corporate activities; between CSR and media positioning; and between CSR and news value. These links create a notion of what CSR stands for and what it means in practice.
IS THE BUSINESS IN VLORA CITY RUNNING IN AN ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIBLE
MANNER?
Lorena Alikaj, Fjona Zeneli Ismail Qemali University, Albania
Since the publication of the Brundtland Report in 1987 and the subsequent Earth Summits in Rio de Janeiro (1992) and Johannesburg (2002), sustainable development has become one of the foremost issues facing the world (Ambec and Lanoie, 2008). Environment and its preservation is a challenge for all, especially for businesses, so that they can ensure a sustainable development and growth, as well as to demonstrate a high level of social responsibility. But the main economic concerning for environmental protection is that it comes at an additional cost imposed on firms, which may affect their global competitiveness. During the last decade, this paradigm has been challenged by a number of analysts (Porter & Van der Linde, 1995), who have argued that improving a company’s environmental performance can lead to better economic performance, and not necessarily to an increase in cost (Ambec and Lanoie, 2008). Left alone, the market mechanism generates too much pollution, and government intervention is legitimate to reduce it to a tolerable threshold. To that end, government has at its disposal a panoply of instruments, such as regulations, taxation, and pollution permits, that may result in the polluters’ receiving the right signal, once confronted with the true cost of their actions. This article aims to discover the attitude of businesses in the city of Vlora, from various sectors of the economy, to the environment and to identify the ways to minimize the negative consequences of their economic activity on the environment, also to identify their perception about the forms of preservation of environment. A structured questionnaire was used for about 100 businesses, in various sectors and the data was processed with statistical computer programs (SPSS) to identify links between
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economic activities of business, the time of presence in market, the type of form that organization etc., and the environment attitude of business. The main result was business in Vlora city perceive that conserving the environment means additional costs for them, lower competitiveness. On the other hand, they were willing to align their products or services to be environmentally friendly, if it meant that this was a response from all companies in the market, accompanied by fiscal facilities from the local (central) government. Let this paper be a manual to understand the attitude of companies towards the environment, for the city of Vlora, to formulate future policies and practices to ensure appropriate environmental protection and economic sustainability of firms that choose to be environmentally friendly.
INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT AND SUSTAINABLE ENTREPRENEURSHIP: GLOBAL EVIDENCE
Abdullah A. Alshwer, Doan E. Winkel, Jeff Vanevenhoven King Saud University, Saud Arabia
Illinois State University, U.S.A. University of Wisconsin – Whitewater, U.S.A.
Entrepreneurship is a critical mechanism for a nation’s economic development through its impact on the sustainability of employment, competition, and innovation (Baumol, 2002; Schumpeter, 1934; Wong, Ho, & Autio, 2005). One’s motivation to engage in entrepreneurial activity is heavily influenced by the institutional context in which they must make decisions, due in part to institutions being important drivers of sustainable economic transactions and behavior (Acs, Audretsch, & Evans, 1994; North, 1990, 2005). Much recent research has focused on understanding and creating institutional environments that are supportive of sustainable entrepreneurial activity (e.g., Acemoglu & Johnson, 2005; Baumol, 1990; McMullen, Bagby, & Palich, 2008; North, 2005). Our primary objective is to point out to the determinants of sustainable entrepreneurial activity in multiple nations. We, therefore, test the relationship between the multi-faceted institutional context and the motivation to create sustainable entrepreneurial activity within a nation. Specifically, we hypothesize that higher levels of economic freedom, political freedom, and globalization will be positively related to higher levels of sustainable entrepreneurial activity within a nation. We empirically test our hypotheses using different econometrical methods where we use data on 33 countries for the period from 1999 to 2006 from the following sources: Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, the Index of Economic Freedom, the Freedom in the World Index, the Cingranelli-Richards Human Rights Dataset, the KOF Index of Globalization. This study is the first, to our knowledge, that employs panel data analysis techniques to examine the relationship between a broad range of institutional contexts and sustainable entrepreneurial activity across time and nations. Our results indicate significant effect of economic and political freedoms on sustainable entrepreneurial activity across many nations. Specifically, our findings lend support to the ideas that the motivations for sustainable entrepreneurial activity are in part a rational, economic- and political-oriented decision-making process.
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THE PAH, AN EXAMPLE OF LOBBYING ROOTED IN SOCIAL ACTIVISM
Cristina Ardanuy Universitat Ramon Llull, Spain
The study “PAH, an example of lobbying rooted in social activism” reflects on the communication campaign carried out by the Movement of Mortgage Victims (in Spanish, Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca, PAH) between the years 2012 and 2014 in order to achieve a modification of Spain’s Mortgage Law. We want to analyze how, parting from a people’s initiative, with no economic resources and with the only asset of social volunteerism, it has been possible to change the political agenda of the Spanish Government. Politics and social activism are two elements which have long been related to each other. In 1992, Larrisa Grunig defined “an activist public” as “a group of two or more individuals who organize in order to influence another public or publics through action that may include education, compromise, persuasion, pressure tactics or force”[1]. Also, in 2006, Hughes and Demetrious stated that these groups “use extra parliamentary methods to provoke political changes in local, national and international levels, and they use new technologies to organize and execute their actions.”[2]. In other words: social activists use extra parliamentary methods such as education, social compromise or persuasion to exert influence upon the day-to-day public institutional activities, and to achieve their purpose they employ social media efficiently. The PAH, facing the situation that many families weren’t and still aren’t able to pay their mortgages back to the banks, decided to launch a campaign in order to change the Mortgage Law. In order to accomplish this goal, firstly, they promoted a Popular Legislative Initiative (PLI); secondly, they collected 500,000 signatures to present the law project to the Spanish Parliament; thirdly, and last, they put pressure on the members of the two chambers of the state (the parliament and the senate) for them to approve the law project. Taking these facts into consideration, we can clearly identify two kinds of publics: on the one hand, the citizens; and, on the other hand, the parliamentarians and senators –although we could still add a third one, this being the European Community - in order to secure stronger political support and media impact. With this goal and keeping the map of two publics in mind, the PAH decided to take several actions in order to spread their message. This set of actions, carried out with a zero budget, managed to modify the Government’s political agenda, force the governing party to change their position about the launching of a PLI and make their voice be heard in the European Union. Indeed, the European institutions decided to make a public pronouncement, forcing the Spanish Government to take appropriate measures. From this grassroots movement, which promoted the kind of micro-activism “which enables individual groups to remain small, independent and minimally resourced” [3], the PAH has managed to become, clearly, one of the most important political lobbies in Spain. Nowadays, the Spanish government, at the request of the European Union, is compelled to amend, for inappropriate and excessive, the new Mortgage Law passed in May 2013. With this study we intend to prove J. E. Grunig’s somehow outdated theories, which establish that the more a public is involved, the more it is going to involve in a cause. But we can still add something to this principle: the less someone is involved in a cause, the harder it is going to be to legislate for that cause, especially when your interests lay elsewhere. References: Gruning LA. 1992. Activism: How it limits the Effectiveness of Organizations and How Excellent Public Relations Departments Responds. In Excellence in Public Relations and Communications Management. Gruning JE (ed). Lawrence Erlbaum: Hillsdale, NJ; 504. Hughes P. Demetrious K. 2006. Engaging with Stakeholders or constructing them? Attitudes and assumptions in stakeholder software. Journal of Corporate Citizenship 23 (3): 93-101. Blood R. 2000, Activism and the Internet: From e-mail to new Political Movement. Journal of Communication Management 5 (2): 166.
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USING FACTOR ANALYSIS METHOD TO IDENTIFY FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THE LEVEL OF
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMPANIES LISTED ON THE BUCHAREST STOCK
EXCHANGE
Mary Violeta Bar (Petrescu) University of Craiova
The economic reality can be described through a batch of variables. The problem appears when the number of variables is significant, and appears the need of handle this great volume of information. A solution to this problem can be the application of a factor analysis method, so called Principal Components Analysis (PCA). This type of analysis is intensively used in different domains, such as: social sciences, management, operational researches. Factor analysis refers to a variety of statistical techniques used for representing a set of variables in accordance with a reduced number of hypothetical variables, called factor. Are a great number of variables with a certain influence on the economic development, but some of these variables are more important than others, so is useful the identification of those variables for a better understanding of the factors which can increase or decrease the quality of financial management. This method has proved a useful tool in achieving this case study as a real support for the financial mismanagement, allowing financial diagnosis Bucharest Stock Exchange listed companies, and their classification. Factor analysis is used for solving two types of problems: the hidden patterns recognition from data relations and the variables number reducing for increasing the data processing speed. The goal of the application is to identify those factors which influence the level of economic development, using PCA. The purpose of PCA is to derive a small number of principal components of a set of variables that retain as much of the information in the original variables. From the software packages dedicated to this type of analysis, we chose to use, the SPSS software. This study emphasizes the principal components analysis method application utility in the economic domain, identifying those factors which influence the economic development, in the actual context of globalization and accelerated development.
CSR ACTIONS IN SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES
Petronela – Evelina Bălu Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania
As in many other countries from Central and Eastern Europe, in Romania, the transition to a market economy also has materialized in the transfer of ownership of enterprises from state to private individuals (shortly, the privatization process) or by the appearance of private enterprises as a result of private, independent initiative. The analysis of this paper will stop only on the area of SMEs and not on large and very large enterprises. In our country, as in others European countries, small and medium enterprises are key factors for growth, innovation, employment, labor and social integration. SMEs represent over 99 % of total enterprises in most economies. In Romania, this proportion rises to 99.6 %. Therefore, each state should provide conditions for an attractive business environment. At this moment, in our country, we can not discuss about an attractive, stable, predictable and transparent business environment. For example, one of the biggest problems that entrepreneurs face is the excessive taxation. On the other side, another problem is represented by the competitivity. Thus, if until recently CSR actions were taken mainly by large companies, now small and medium enterprises have begun to adopt this trend. Considering this, the aim of the present study is to analyze the small and medium enterprises from the perspective of CSR actions. Acknowledgment: This paper was co-financed from the European Social Fund, through the Sectorial Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2007-2013, project number POSDRU/159/1.5/S/138907 “Excellence in scientific interdisciplinary research, doctoral and postdoctoral, in the economic, social and medical fields - EXCELIS”, coordinator The Bucharest University of Economic Studies.
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CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND TEMPORARY WORKERS - MANIFESTATIONS
AND DILEMMAS
Izabela Bednarska - Wnuk University of Lodz, Poland
Today, the growing popularity of issues relating to social responsibility and business ethics that permeate all spheres of the organization, making it responsible for all of its subsystems. A particularly important issue is human resources, which are required to flexibility or ability, willingness and ability to change. Manifestation of flexibility is therefore a response to the transformations made in the organization, especially in the context of a flexible labor market. In this situation, the emergence of a new category of employees in the organization - temporary workers, whose share in the total structure of the workforce is increasingly dominant, forces us to reflect on aspects of corporate social responsibility. On the one hand, the organization must be responsible for the development of appropriate and safe working conditions, and observe high standards of ethical standards and promote desirable social patterns. The organization wanting to create responsible organizational environment should to take into account the interests of all its stakeholders, be responsible for their resources, including human resources, first of all. On the other hand, there is the dilemma of whether you can create a responsible and friendly environment for all employees, regardless of the form of employment and that, in turn, temporary workers exhibit similar values of the organization as permanent employees, particularly in the context of transactional psychological contract. The purpose of the article was done reflecting on the organization as responsible for shaping the social subsystem and answer the question whether it is possible to be responsible for all categories of employees to the same extent, and whether temporary workers exhibit similar organizational values as permanent employees. This article is based on theoretical considerations on the example of Polish.
NEW METRICS ON GENERATION AND DISPOSAL OF ELECTRONIC WASTE TO CORPORATE
GOVERNANCE
Paulo Ernani Bergamo dos Santos University of São Paulo, Brazil
The work deals with the definition and adoption of new metrics on generation and disposal of electronic waste to corporate governance. The topic is relevant to organizations considering that the integration of sustainability into business strategies is a measure that creates value to companies and their stakeholders, and considering that the growth rate of generation of electronic waste in the world is at least three times higher than the growth rate of the common waste, accordingly to UNEP. This scenario not only implies a rise of CO2 emission but also of other substances that are harmful to the environment and to human health. A proposal for adoption by companies of new metrics on generation and disposal of electronic waste that relate business objectives and sustainable practices such as green purchasing, sustainable process operation and disposal of electronic waste will be detailed according to international standards.
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EXPLORING STAKEHOLDER PERSPECTIVES AS COMPLEMENTS TO TOP MANAGEMENT
TEAM STRATEGY MAKING FUNCTION; EVALUATING AND ADVISING ON FIRM LEVEL
STRATEGY IN THE EMERGING ECONOMY OF INDIA
Som Sekhar Bhattacharyya National Institute of Industrial Engineering, India
Background of the Study - Stakeholder theory has progressed both in management theory and as a management practice (Freeman, 1984). The progress has been mostly in the area of centralizing the aspects of social and environmental concerns of a firm, while operating with externalities in society (Mitchell, Agle and Wood, 1997). This research work is a step in a different world. This work is towards exploring avenues on centralizing stakeholder expectation and viewpoints regarding the core of strategic management of a firm. Conventionally, Top Management Team (TMT) of any firm provides strategic management input to any firm (Amason, 1996). Stakeholder individuals donning the complementary role of strategists would be studied regarding the mental model they hold towards evaluating firm strategy. Context of study – The number of youth in India has been estimated to be around 400 million. This number is almost equivalent to the total population of Western Europe or United States of America. For this study, a subset in this youth population will be considered. They are christened here as Young Professional Individuals (YPI). The number of YPIs has been steadily rising in the emerging economy of India, currently estimated to be about 50 million strong. This is almost twice the size of the population of entire Scandinavian countries. These young Indian stakeholders have developed an enquiring mind because of the good quality of Western style education they received and the enquiry seeking mind-set that they were encouraged to have from their parents over the last three decades. Stakeholder voice gained ground in India because of the spread of western education system. The technology boom (Web 2.0) and the mushrooming abundance of business media has helped to capture and disseminate stakeholder voice all over the world especially the Indian youth were touched by this new and powerful medium (Bhattacharyya,2011). This rise in airing stakeholder opinions was thus because of the rise in social media and the coming of Web 2.0 and this has acted as a second driver. Thirdly, because of the inductive effect of the increasing footprints of the private sector in India (since India embarked on the path of Liberalization, Globalization and Privatization, LPG) in the year 1991(Das, 2000), compounded with the increased interface with (and the increased presence of) Western Multi-National Corporations (MNCs), stakeholder-firm interactions have morphed to as state in which in, firm –stakeholder relationships, stakeholders matter more and more in India (Bhattacharyya, 2012). YPI’s are progressively becoming a bigger base, not just as consumers, but as investors, as employees and as firm community neighbors’. Thus, YPIs (as a segment of stakeholders) would increasingly matter for firms. YPIs’ also believe that they are competent enough to have an opinion about firm strategy. YPIs’ not only judge a firm regarding their own decisions but also as opinion leaders for others in society as customers, employees and investors. Given this context, it is important to find out the mental model that the YPIs’ apply to conceptualize, apropos, comprehend and opinionate regarding firm strategy. Purpose - This research is an attempt to explore how the overall picture of a firm strategy gets conceptualized in the minds of YPIs’ and how the evaluation of a firm strategy could complement TMT in their strategy making. This is based upon YPIs’ experience as customer of any firm’s (versus competing firms) product or services, as an investor for stocks and as an employee of an organization. The specific questions asked when an YPI, individual does research for a firm’s strategy are about the: Nature of resources and capabilities of the firm in terms of VRIN framework (Barney, 2001). Absence and presence of competence and core competence of the firm (Barney, 2001). Dynamics of the firm, in learning the new technologies and the dynamics of the product to market capabilities (Teece, Pisano and Shuen, 1997). Firm’s product promotions/ after sales/ management coherence.
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Firm’s performance relative to the competitors. Firm's exposure to threat of new entrants and substitutes (Porter, 1980). Firm’s bargaining power with respect to sellers and buyers (Porter, 1980). Firm capabilities to handle competition. The overriding question applicable for all the mentioned eight questions is how the differential conceptualization of firm is done in the minds of YPIs. Thus, the research would explore the dimensions of stakeholder mental model (Dhanaraj, C. and Khanna, T., 2011) perspective on firm strategy and the different dimensions used in judging a firm in the mind of stakeholders. Further, this study would also attempt to figure out how TMT s can use the inputs from stakeholders to complement their own strategy making.To reiterate, the need for this study thus stems from the fact that in stakeholder – firm engagement YPI stakeholders matter more in this decade as customers, employees, investors and social legitimacy providers. YPI stakeholder opinion and voice can be aired and heard because of their better education, mindset and the coming up of Web 2.0 technology platforms. Design - Structured survey questionnaire would be personally administered on individuals (YIP) and the data collected would be analyzed by structured equation modeling (Bryne, 2010). Expected Findings - The factors constituting the stakeholder mental model would emerge based on the factor analysis. Further, specific models relating these factors are needed to be developed. Research Implications - The theoretical development from this paper would contribute towards understanding the constituting factors that create a mental model of individual stakeholders when they analyze firm strategy. This would help in expanding the frontier of knowledge on monitoring, analyzing and incorporating stakeholder expectations and opinions. Further, the complementarity of the stakeholder inputs to TMT (strategic management function) decision making would also be theoretically established. Practical implications - The findings and establishment of relationship between the mental model factors causing impressions about firm strategy in the minds of individual stakeholders would help management practitioners to draw and develop effective strategic management interventions that would be harmonic with stakeholder expectations. This would help TMT to incorporate the perspectives of stakeholders for strategy level decision making of firms. Originality / value - Extant literature has generally focused at strategic management planning and formulation from top down and TMT centric perspective. Firm strategy studies sprouting from stakeholder individuals residing outside the boundary of the firm has been one of the least trodden paths. This study is a step in that direction. This would be one of the first such studies that would help in probing a stakeholder centric and dictating perspective regarding the core of firm strategy. This study would explicate on the dimensions of stakeholders’ differential evaluation of firm strategy and its’ complementarity to TMT functioning which is again a new vista in theory. References: Amason A C (1996) “Distinguishing the Effects of Functional and Dysfunctional Conflict on Strategic Decision Making: Resolving a Paradox for Top Management Teams”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol 39, No 1, pp-123-138. Barney, J.B., (2001), Is the Resource-Based Theory a Useful Perspective for Strategic Management Research? Yes. Academy of Management Review; 26, (1), pp. 41–56. Bhattacharyya, S.S. (2011) ‘Web 2.0 and its effect on the strategic directions of business firms and the boundary of the firm’, International Journal of Business Competition and Growth, Vol. 1, No. 4, pp.346–358. Bhattacharyya, S.S. (2012) ‘Observations on the realities regarding corporate social responsibility from the emerging economy of India’, International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp.162–183. Brayne. B M (2010) Structural Equation Modelling With AMOS, Routledge. Das, G. (2000) India Unbound: From Independence to Global Information Age, New Delhi: Penguin. Dhanaraj, C and Khanna T (2011) Transforming mental models on emerging markets, Academy of Management Learning & Education 10 (4), 684-701 Donaldson, Thomas; Preston, Lee E. (1995). "The Stakeholder Theory of the Corporation: Concepts, Evidence, and Implications", Academy of Management Review, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 65-91. Freeman, R. E (1984). Strategic Management: A stakeholder approach. Boston: Pitman Mitchell R K., Agle B R. and Wood D J. (1997) “Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience: Defining the
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Principle of Who and What Really Counts”, The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 22, No. 4 (Oct), pp. 853-886. Porter, M. E. (1980), "Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors", New York, NY: Free Press. Teece, D., Pisano, G. and Shuen, A. (1997), "Dynamic Capabilities and Strategic Management". Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 18, No. 7, pp. 509–533.
THE BAIKAL REGION’S NATIONAL ETHNIC AND ECOLOGICAL TRADITIONS AS THE SOURCE
OF ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
Irina Boldonova Buryat State University, Russia
The general methodological foundation of the paper is the ideas of and Environmental Ethics and Aesthetics of Nature - environmental ethical theory of the Lake Baikal region, based on aboriginal nation’s cultural values and traditions. Methods of inquiry include scientific literature analysis, interpretation of texts, comparative study. In the article the author analyzes heuristic potential of ethical-ecological and socio-cultural traditions of the Baikal region’s peoples in order to formulate basics of social responsibility for practitioners in economics and industry. The XXI century brought great expectations from the global age on the one hand, and the will to preserve ethnicity and national culture on the other hand. Lake Baikal and the Baikal region under the conditions of mankind’s transition to sustainable development present special importance. In the final document of the UN Conference on sustainable development «Rio+20» there discussed the importance of regional realization of sustainable development. The Baikal region can take the leading position in implementing the sustainable development strategy, if it will be able to use their ethical-ecological potential. The Baikal region’s people have been living in severe climate and unfavorable natural environment, environmental and ethical traditions can be considered as historically originated initial step of social responsibility in the relationship “nature – society”. They are reflected in values, the system of norms and restrictions, as well as in folklore, art, imaginative writing. The second part of the article is devoted to aesthetics of nature based on national traditions and its contribution to contemporary environmental ethics. The author argues that the forms of artistic vision educate and convince people, formulate a special aesthetic and poetic, spiritual, unselfish attitude towards nature, and realize the function of social responsibility to help being in harmony with nature.
THE CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY IN THE ELECTRIC VEHICLE COMMUNICATION
Jordi Botey, Ramon Martin Ramon Llull University, Spain
The last international report "Meaningful Brand Index 2013" conducted by the communications group Havas Media, concludes that if 70% of brands disappear, consumers would give exactly the same, which means that the relationship of trust between brands and consumers is cracking. The study also reveals that companies have voluntarily adopted the concept of likely social sustainability and environmental policies are much better appreciated and valued brands. There are indicators (Gupta and Kumar, 2012:285-286) that said the concept of sustainability requires new challenges and opportunities for businesses when done as a hub of corporate culture and, properly managed, efficiently contributes to the generation business for companies. Other approaches (Dauvergne and Lister, 2012:12) suggests that the adoption of the concept of corporate sustainability contributes to increase the competitive advantage of companies against their competitors. The aim of this paper is to analyze and verify
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whether the advertising communication of brands analyzed is consistent with this approach we are suggesting. Currently highlights the commitment of car manufacturers by the concept of sustainable mobility, depending less and less on fossil fuels and less CO2 emissions. Under this concept, the cars are made cleaner, lighter materials and electric motors. One question is whether this trend -so important in media and social discourse of responsible consumption and respect for nature- translates in practice to the field of electric cars and their advertising strategy. To verify or disprove this perception will set the following objectives: 1. Identify E-car models each brand marketed under the concept of 100% electric vehicle 2. Analyze advertising activity in this category as ad spending in media 3. Discover how advertising messages are constructed E-car In this investigation we have worked with a sample of the electric car models that have had advertising activity in 2011 and 2012 in Spain. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY DEVELOPMENT IN ROMANIAN HIGHER EDUCATION:
IS THIS THE REACTION OF PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES TO SIGNIFICANTCHANGES REGARDING
COMPETITORS, PUBLIC FUNDING AND LABOUR MARKET?
Georgiana Camelia Crețan Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania
The significant changes that took place within higher education in the last 25 years led to nowadays universities that are acting in a globalized world where they are expected more to produce knowledge, technology, qualified workforce, to attract alternative funding source, and less to train individuals to become active and critically participants in the decision making process in the society as a whole. Moreover, the massification process of higher education, enhanced by the fact that higher qualified workforce can get higher income, together with private universities expansion created a highly competitive higher education industry. In this context, characterized by the growing dependence of public universities on private funding resources, as a continuous decrease registered within the level of public funding per student granted by the government, as well as by the increasing supply of university graduates, public universities could gain a competitive advantage and stand out from its competitors at national, but also at international level, by integrating the promotion of cultural and social values into their own educational missions as well as by satisfying the whole range of stakeholders. Thus, the paper aims at answering the question whether Romanian public universities reacted to the challenges launched by private and public competitors, by employers or by government, through integrating corporate social responsibility into their educational missions. Moreover, the study provides evidence on how Romanian public universities get involved in creating cultural and societal values. The research conducted led to the idea that most of the public universities have already integrated objectives like creation, development, as well as promotion of scientific, cultural and ethical values through regional, national and international community into their educational missions. Still, only some of them are really committed to their assumed social responsibility and acted in developing entrepreneurial, leadership or any other skills required by employers. Acknowledgement: This work was cofinanced from the European Social Fund through Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2007-2013, project number POSDRU/159/1.5/S/134197 „Performance and excellence in doctoral and postdoctoral research in Romanian economics science domain”.
SOCIAL INNOVATIONS OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AS THE MAIN COMPONENT
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OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Danchenok Larisa Aleksandrovna, Ivanova-Shvets Ludmila Nikolaevna, Zhidkova Olga Nikolaevna Moscow State University of Economics, Statistics and Informatics (MESI), Russia
Practice of corporate social responsibility has long been known to modern business. Implementation of corporate social responsibility policy affects all strategic directions and ambience of a modern company, including the formation and implementation of social innovation. Social innovation of human resource management within the corporate social responsibility is closely linked with key human values. While exploring the activities of the companies that annually compile and publish reports on sustainable development, we can distinguish the following social innovations of human resource management: new forms of Internet-based electronic communication - voice mail, on-line interviews, video messages, IP-telephony, corporate knowledge management, staff assessment, use of outplacement technology, distance learning, the use of crowdsourcing and others. Social innovations of human resource management embedded within strategies of corporate social responsibility, not only enable companies to demonstrate their citizenship, but also become an important tool for attracting, retaining and developing human resources, enabling them to stand out, to develop new directions, to form a favorable corporate culture, promoting thereby the increase of the loyalty and efficiency of modern companies.
BIOETHICS AND CONSCIOUS CAPITALISM: A NEW APPROACH FOR BUSINESS
ORGANISATIONS IN THE HEALTH CARE SECTOR
Simeon Davies Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa
The role of bioethics (and public healthcare ethics) has become a key component in R&D process for companies operating in the health care economy (Kass, 2004). However, there is an on-going tension between the profit driven prerogatives of companies and their ethical and moral responsibilities, especially for R&D. Friedman (1970) infamously argued that ‘there is only one social responsibility of business—to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits’. Mackay and Sisodia (2013) have provided what may be seen as a more nuanced understanding regarding the purpose of business, via ‘conscious capitalism’. They assert that ‘Friedman’s argument is not wrong so much as it is myopic. They feel that that a literal acceptance of Friedman’s view of business is that we risk the continued growth of increasing coercive governments, the corruption of enterprises through crony capitalism, and the consequential loss of both our freedom and prosperity’. This paper contends that the perceived tensions between making profits and the bioethical prerogatives in terms of R&D may be resolved to a large extent by moral reasoning, as advocated by Richardson (2007) and the adoption of principles embodied in ‘conscious capitalism’ after Mackay and Sisodia. The paper forwards arguments based on the reconciliation of divergent moral principles via Richardson’s pragmatist notion of practical intelligence that seeks to inform us that we must remain open to revising our conception of what is good and what is right, along with the assertion by Mackay and Sisodia that ‘free enterprise capitalism must be grounded in ethical system based on value creation for all stakeholders. Money is one measure of value, but it is certainly not the only measure’. References: Friedman M (1970). The social responsibility of business is to increase profits. New York Times Magazine, September 13, 1970 by the New York Times Company. Kass NE (2004). Public Health Ethics: From Foundations and Frameworks to Justice and Global Public Health. The Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics; Summer 2004; 32(2): 232-243. John Mackay and Raj Sisodia (2013). Liberating the Spirit of Business: Conscious Capitalism. Harvard Business School
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Publishing Corporation: ISBN 978-1-4221-4220-6. Richardson (2003). Moral reasoning. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Winter 2003 Edition. http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2003/entries/reasoning-moral/.
SUSTAINABLE INNOVATIONS AND CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN THE EUROPEAN
ELECTRICITY INDUSTRY
Nikolett Deutsch University of Pécs, Hungary
Over the past decades both in theoretical and empirical researches, more and more attention was put on the examination of the relationship between sustainable development and innovation. In addition, the focus has shifted from passive and end-of-pipe solutions, to the assessment of systemic changes induced by sustainable innovations. Similarly to this trend Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Corporate Sustainability reporting have become important aspects and tools regarding the corporate measures and steps towards sustainability. The European electricity industry has gone through numerous changes since the first attempts of liberalisation; however the dominant regime of electricity supply and demand still suffering from attributes inconsistent with the aims of sustainability. Therefore the reconstruction and development of the energy sector are urgent questions on a global political and economic level. Changes in the energy mix, regulation and increased awareness of environment protection might be the engine of processes against the total exploitation of nature. As the external pressure from the civil society, public authorities and the media has been growing, firms are obliged to yield to a range of pressure and they have to demonstrate this type of compliance to their stakeholders CSR is a concept that is above the laws as being voluntary and targeting common objectives with the society contributing to common wealth. As being an actor in the energy market communication towards people is a very sensitive issue, therefore, CSR is an opportunity for these companies to be more conscious of gaining public support throughout environmental and social commitment. The aim of this paper is twofold. The author attempts not only to systematize the role and types of sustainable innovation, but to present the recent trends regarding the CSR performance of the dominant European electricity companies. Acknowledgement: This research was supported by the European Union and the State of Hungary, co-financed by the European Social Fund in the framework of TÁMOP 4.2.4. A/2-11-1-2012-0001 ‘National Excellence Program
A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF CODES OF ETHICS: COMPARING GENERAL AND LOCAL CODES OF
ETHICS ADOPTED BY MULTINATIONAL BANKS
Iulia Drajneanu National School of Political Science and Public Administration, Romania
Purpose – The paper presents a content analysis of the codes of ethics governing employee behavior in the banking sector. It aims to investigate the similarities and differences between codes of ethics promulgated by the same bank for its homeland operations and the other countries where it operates. The study will focus on the codes’ specifications regarding employee behavior in relation with legislative corporate governance and labour legislation. The study will reveal whether there is a risk that banks use codes as means of assurance against liability in the face of financial law, to pressure the addressees of the code, to avoid labor legislation or other purposes. Incidentally, it will shed some light on whether ethics codes are adjusted at all to respond to local business conditions. Design/Methodology/Approach – Regarding the codes of ethics for employees operating in the banking sector, this paper applies a content analysis method to the investigation of how the code of ethics is used as a
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means for assurance of specific outcomes of defined ethical behaviors. Both semantic content and presentation format are considered in the content analysis. Hypothesis – The expected result of the study is that even though the general discourse is that codes of ethics are implemented to support a comparable principles-based conceptual framework in all the countries where the banking brand operates, the rigid legalistic presentation format might, however, use ethical principles relieve the company of some of its legal responsibilities to protect employees against unemployment. The research will focus on the specific form of combining direct import and legal enhancement for each case study. Research limitations/Implications – Two limitations: lack of information about the motivation of adopting certain specifications and if these amendments: the chosen sector is very narrow and the conclusions should be further tested on other economic areas. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN A RETAIL TRADE COMPANY ON THE EXAMPLE OF
THE SWISS COMPANY MIGROS
Marek Drzazga University of Economics in Katowice, Poland
In the process of globalization international activities of companies have a great impact on living conditions of people and their environment. At the same time, the activities connected with environmental preservation and growing social responsibility have become the most decisive factors in the process of purchasing goods by customers. The issue of CSR has been the subject of discussions for a long time. Already in the 1970s and 1980s the conception of sustainable development appeared based on the idea and activities having to do with environmental preservation. Growing environmental awareness, among people and employees of companies, lead to the integration between the idea of sustainable development and Corporate Social Responsibility conception (CSR). MIGROS is the biggest retail trade company in Switzerland. It has its branches also in France and Germany. MIGROS, with its seat in Zurich, was founded in 1925 by Gottlieb Duttweiler. His vision was to build a community which as a reliable and trustworthy partner would take care for good and the quality of life of customers in Switzerland. MIGROS, the foodstuffs market leader, for man years has been treating economic activities seriously. The fundamental aspects connected with sustainable management and marketing activities include environmental, social and economic dimensions of managing the company taking into consideration the needs of its customers, the company and the society. Nowadays, in MIGROS there are rigorous standards in effect which have to do with economic, environmental and social aspects of economic processes. They are much more rigorous than existing laws. Sometimes they even fill legal loopholes in this field. The activities focusing on sustainable development are also communicated to customers in retail outlets by means of seven different brands which all exist under one common brand – Engagement.
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ASSESSING RESPONSIBLE SOURCING AS PART OF CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY. A CASE
STUDY: EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES
Cristian Ducu, Diana Cosmina Trifu Centre for Advanced Research in Management and Applied Ethics, Romania
In today’s world, where pressure to increase profit and decrease production costs have grown exponentially, sustainable sourcing has become one of the decisive elements in corporate strategies. This includes not only sourcing in an economic efficient way on long term, but also a stronger commitment to tackle the social and environmental issues affecting the supply chain. Whereas in domains such as apparel and footwear, responsible sourcing has been at the forefront of the industry’s sustainability efforts, in the extractive industries the focus on responsible sourcing has caught the international eye in recent years, as a result of highly profiled cases such as blood diamonds and shale gas. Responsibility in the supply chain for extractive industries has rapidly improved with certain countries and international organisations making sustained efforts to improve transparency and reporting in the extractive industries supply chain both in terms of financial and non-financial reporting. The present paper seeks to establish the foundation for the creation of a responsible sourcing framework, developing on all elements pertaining to responsible sourcing, with a view towards implementing it within the extractive industries field. In this regard, the paper develops on already established concepts, introducing new elements to these in an effort to assess responsible sourcing as an integral part of the more general concept of corporate sustainability, and to present. The connection between responsible sourcing and corporate sustainability are also developed. Moreover, we dig deep into the responsible sourcing of companies operating in the field of extractive industries in order to fully assess their commitment towards sustainability and how deep is their responsible sourcing policy embedded in the directions of corporate sustainability.
EXAMINING THE CYCLING HABITS OF CHILDREN IN EDUCATION AGE WHEN PLANNING
SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION
Sedef Eryiğit, Ümmügülsüm Ter
Selcuk University, Turkey
The fact that negative effects of increased individual motorized transportation on natural and structured environment has been intense on city and citizen agenda, has propounded the necessity of sustainable transportation system planning. The first of main strategies on sustainable transportation is the improvement of bicycle transportation and in all cities over the world; a full-court press takes place, intending to improve bicycle use. One of the most important strategies on using bicycle for transportation is to make instillation on bicycle use habit for young people. Due to the fact that cycling requires much physical strength, children in educational age are advantageous in terms of their cycling habits. Besides, 20% of our country population involve children between ages 5-14 and most of their transportation needs at this age are conducted in a short distance -from home to school; requiring the fact that cycling habit should be acquired during childhood. The purpose of this study is to improve sustainable transportation, enabling children in educational age to acquire a cycling habit or re-enacting their obsolescent habits that are almost lost. There are 117 questionnaires conducted throughout Konya province in order to determine the cycling habits of children in educational age. Among the reasons why Konya province is taken as a sample in this study, Konya is topographically available for transportation via cycling, it has the largest number of bicycle use throughout the country and the province has many cycling routes around it. As a result of the questionnaires conducted, the problems why cycling by the
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children in educational age is limited are determined and the reasons why they don’t prefer cycling are stated and, suggestions are made to increase cycling use by the children in their educational age in accordance with the findings obtained.
APPLIED ETHICS IN THE FASHION BUSINESS
Adriana Gîrneață The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania
The textile and clothing industry has become a global phenomenon and, due to its complex connections to several other fields, including manufacturing, advertising, production of raw materials, transportation and retailing, the enormous profits that stand to be gained in the fashion industry create the temptation for companies to engage in unethical behaviour. In the current context of globalization and increasing competition, organizations seek to strike a balance between obtaining the lowest possible production costs and maintaining a proper social image likely to satisfy consumers and pressure groups. Initially, businesses considered it was more accessible to engage with the financial and environmental elements of sustainability, as they are facile to measure and involve less reputational risk. Although the social element often poses the greatest challenges, shocking stories in the recent years of poor working conditions in the supply chains of several leading fashion brands has forced the industry to focus on the social elements. The current paper offers an insight into the most developed ethical initiatives and the related issues in the fashion industry. In the last decades, the major organizations in the textile and clothing industry have become more aware of the importance of adopting a responsible ethical behaviour in order to maintain a good public image and to remain competitive. Notwithstanding, exploitative labour, environmental damage, the use of hazardous chemicals, waste, and animal cruelty remain stringent problems in the fashion business. Acknowledgements: This paper was co-financed from the European Social Fund, through the Sectorial Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2007-2013, project number POSDRU/159/1.5/S/138907 "Excellence in scientific interdisciplinary research, doctoral and postdoctoral, in the economic, social and medical fields - EXCELIS", coordinator The Bucharest University of Economic Studies.
ECO - LABELING AS A TOOL OF CSR
Urszula Golaszewska-Kaczan, Anna Śleszynska-Swiderska, Marek Kruk University of Bialystok, Poland
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a concept which, although it is developing for many years, it is constantly improved in both terms - theoretical and practical. In theory there are still creating new definitions and new areas for action shots. In practice area CSR still looking new instruments that could be used in pro-social activities. In this way, more and more expanding a set of tools that are available for socially responsible companies. In this article will be discuss the eco-labeling, which is an instrument belonging to the traditional set of activities in the framework of CSR. Eco-labeling is relatively poorly described issue in literature. In practical area, we can also find deficiencies. Analyzing the areas of corporate social responsibility calculated by ISO 26000, eco-labeling can be included into the area of the environment, fair operating practices and consumer issues. This shows how multi-dimensional issue is the use of eco-labeling. This fact creates the possibility of assessing this practices of different points of view - companies, consumers and the environment. The purpose of this article is to present the eco-labeling in the context of CSR and an indication of the benefits arising from the use of this tool for the company and the various stakeholder groups. In this article the authors will show that the activity in the area of eco-labeling not only builds the
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image of a socially responsible company, but also translates to specific business benefits. In addition, the authors will attempt to assess the proportion of customers for products marked with eco-labeling. Analysis of the problem will be based on the available literature in the field of corporate social responsibility, marketing, sustainable development and environmental protection.
THE CHANGING DYNAMICS AND VALUES IN HIGHER EDUCATION EVALUATION IN THE
CONCEPT OF THE INFORMATION AGE: FRANCHISING- THE MCDONALDIZATION OF HIGHER
EDUCATION, FULL-SIZED BRANCH CAMPUSES IN CHINA AND IN THE UK TO BE FUNDED
EXAMPLES OF RESEARCH
Hasan Kürşat Güleş, Emine Nihan Cici Karaboğa, Kazım Karaboğa Selcuk University, Turkey
Necmettin Erbakan University,Turkey
Institutions come together with the same other organizations and operating in different sectors in society. The institute influences and is influenced by either same institute or different one. In other words, institutions, are in interaction with other institutions in society. Opinions in society emerging, forces and trends affect institutions Power and trends which are affecting institutions and institutions that affect from society to society and from time to time can vary greatly. Trends and power that are affecting institutions and also affected by them can be nature in local, national and international (Erdem, 2002: 119). As an institution of higher education institutions will be affected and will affect. Higher education institutions due to the impact of the tasks are more open. In this study, higher education institutions and factors affecting change in recent years been addressed under individual titles, effects of globalization emerged with the international situation was made a general assessment by giving examples. Globalization, increasing population and consequent increased rate of demand for higher education, information society, the impact of technology and changing higher education supply are discussed in this study.
THE HEROES, VILLAINS AND DAMSELS IN DISTRESS OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBLY
Georgiana Grigore, Mike Molesworth Bournemouth University, U.K.
University of Southampton, U.K.
In this paper we explore what might be ‘really going on’ when people attempt to ‘do good’ in Romania. We recognise that despite what appears to be genuine efforts to support community, educational, and environmental causes, this ‘social level’ of intent may mask other intentions, often unconscious and embedded from early childhood, in the actors involved. We consider how social responsibility provides a context for senior corporate communicators and NGO executives to play-out psychological games. Drawing from Bernes (1964) post-psychoanalytic articulation of Transactional Analysis we see how Child and Parent ego states and related Cross-Transactions may result in a series of ‘games’ that help actors fulfill ‘life scripts’. We illustrate examples of TA games we stories from12 extended phenomenological interviews (21 hours in total) with senior practitioners in Romania. These stories reveal both social level messages (the apparent Adult ego states captured and articulated in the normative discourse on social responsibility), but also the ‘hidden’ messages (the actual Child and Parent ego states) in interactions. These result in ‘Drama Triangles’ (Karpman 1968) where actors adopt ‘Victim’, ‘Persecutor’ and ‘Rescuer’ starting–gate positions then move between them playing games like ‘Only trying to help’, ‘Look how hard I’ve tried’, You got me
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into this’ and ‘Let’s you and him fight’. From this perspective we illustrate how apparent failures, limitations, errors and even corruptions may be accounted for as predictable behaviors, and in making these transparent we hope to reveal mechanisms by which social responsibility practice may be better understood and damaging games avoided as Adult positions are re-instated and maintained.
FINANCIAL SERVICE PROVIDERS’ SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY TO DEVELOP BROAD-SCOPE
TRUST
Torben Hansen, Lars Grønholdt, Alexander Josiassen, Anne Martensen Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
Substantial research results suggest the global financial crisis has negatively affected consumers’ trust in financial service providers. Trust not only relates to consumer trust in individual companies (narrow-scope trust, NST) but also relates to the broader business context in which consumers may plan and carry out their financial behaviour. This latter form of trust can be referred to as ‘broad-scope’ trust (BST). BST is especially important in a society context since lack of BST may reduce financial market dynamism, competition, and productivity. Consequently, financial service providers assume an important social responsibility in order to rebuild BST. Unfortunately, not much is known about the interplay between BST and other types of trust. This study considers the interplay between BST and two other types of financial trust: NST and consumer financial knowledge over/under confidence (O/U). O/U refers to consumers’ impression of the accuracy of their knowledge. In that respect, knowledge O/U can be regarded as a trust bias since knowledge underconfident consumers undertrust their actual knowledge, whereas knowledge overconfident consumers overtrust their actual knowledge. Based on a survey comprising 756 mutual fund investors, the contribution of this study is twofold. First, it is proposed and shown that BST negatively moderates the relationship between knowledge O/U and relationship satisfaction such that knowledge O/U has a greater positive/negative effect on relationship satisfaction when BST is low compared to high. Second, a positive relationship between BST and NST is detected. However, because of market competition and scarce resources some managers may feel tempted only to focus on developing NST. Since it is in the interest of societies that their citizens have trust in financial institutions this underlines the importance of developing well-functioning financial regulations, which ensures that the development of BST is not left to the financial industry alone. Acknowledgement: The data for this study were collected in collaboration with the Danish Money and Pension Panel
PROUD TO BE SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE: AN EXAMINATION OF THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, PRIDE IN MEMBERSHIP, JOB SATISFACTION AND
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
Ali Imran
Institute of Information Technology, Pakistan
The current study examines how corporate social responsibility (CSR) can be used to develop a sense of pride in membership, job satisfaction and engagement among employees. The study used data collected through self-administered structured survey questionnaire from 487 employees from cellular industry in Pakistan. The study used structural equation model (SEM) technique to analyze data and test hypotheses. The study confirms the proposition of social identity theory and stakeholders’ engagement theory by finding positively significant association between CSR, employees’ pride in membership and engagement. The study
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also noted positive influence of CSR, employee pride in membership, and job satisfaction on employee engagement. The study concludes that higher level of job satisfaction and employee engagement can be achieved by developing strong connection between CSR association, CSR participation and employee pride in organizational membership. The study provides useful policy implications to corporate managers to communicate CSR activities to employees effectively and involve employees in CSR activities in order to increase their job satisfaction and engagement level.
THE EFFECT OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY ON INDIVIDUAL INTENTIONS TOWARD SOCIALLY
RESPONSIBLE TOURISM FIRMS
Fatih Koc, Umit Alniacik, M. Emin Akkilic, Ilbey Varol
Balikesir University, Turkey Kocaeli University, Turkey
Today, firms’ responsibility towards the society exceeds the boundaries of “providing goods and services to meet the needs of the society” and “obtaining a reasonable profit for the shareholders”. Firms have further responsibilities to the society, the natural environment, its employees and customers. These “social responsibilities” of the firms also gauge the firms’ image and reputation in the eyes of their various stakeholders. However, different publics interpret the socially responsible actions of the firms divergently. One important factor that may cause this diversity is the moral philosophies of individuals, which is a concept used to determine the different perspectives in ethical judgment. Personal moral philosophies is a key concept in understanding individual behaviour in various contexts including the consumption and employment. According to Forsyth (1980) individuals’ variations in their approach to moral judgments can be examined in two main dimensions namely idealism and relativism. This study examines the impact of personal moral philosophies of young individuals on their intentions to purchase services from, apply for jobs and make investment to tourism firms that exert socially responsible behavior. With this aim, a field study is conducted on 600 college students studying tourism and hospitality management at a state university in Turkey. A self-administered questionnaire is used as the data collection tool. The questionnaire had an excerpt describing the socially responsible activities of a tourism firm, and questions to capture the respondents’ willingness to purchase services from, apply for jobs and make investment to the narrated firm. Further questions were asked to identify the demographic characteristics and personal moral philosophies of the respondents. Regression analyses revealed that respondents’ intentions to purchase services from the narrated firm were positively affected by idealism while it was negatively affected by relativism. Intentions to apply for a job and make investment to the company were positively affected by both dimensions of the moral philosophy. Theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed.
PIQ & LEAD™ HIGHER EDUCATION MODEL – SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY - WELL-BEING
László Kovács Kodolányi János University of Applied Sciences, Hungary
As the director of the Centre for Higher Education Methodology and Innovation I am responsible for HE programme development at my institution (Kodolányi János University of Applied Sciences – Székesfehérvár-Budapest, Hungary). Kodolányi János Főiskola (KJF) is the first and to date the only higher education institution in Hungary that has passed a pedagogical programme approved by its Senate and developed the so called PIQ & Lead™ Higher Education Model, which is based on modern learning theories. (Profession, Innovation, Quality, Leadership) Important elements of this model are principles for professional
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ethics and the consciousness of sustainability. During their study times our students are confronted with practical and theoretical problems of sustainable professional activity (business, media, tourism, pedagogy, politics etc.) and social responsibility. An example: in the introductory week of the next semester all of our new students - regardless of the degree program - will visit minority groups, people with disabilities and discuss their feelings with the mentor and ask how the chosen degree program influences the life of the visited people. In the conference I would like to introduce the PIQ & Lead™ Higher Education Model and especially its aspects and learning outcomes regarding sustainability and social responsibility. We think that our students need a step-by-step competence development in this field and they need to be convinced, that social responsibility is not only an end in itself or an external expectation of the society but also a very important contribution to personal well-being. The implementation of the model in the different study courses and lessons starts in September 2014 therefore it will be possible to show the very first “visible” experiences of students and teachers as well.
THE PENETRATION OF LOCAL CURRENCIES IN HUNGARY
Tamás Kovács University of West Hungary, Hungary
While the role of the few hundred years ago dominant national currencies seemed to decrease, the supranational currencies like the euro or local currencies used in smaller communities are widely current. The financial crisis has weakened the monopolistic situation of the national currencies of the economies. As in the past millennia, on several occasions, the local communities try to protect themselves and their economies with their own currencies, surrogates, special accounting systems. Following the development of the economic systems, community-based currencies are changing themselves. During their creation the primary concern is not only the economic interests, but also the local social, cultural and moral standards. Using these they try to connect the untapped opportunities and unmet needs. Community currencies mostly have the same value as the national currency. This serves two purposes: to maintain price stability and ease the use. Of course, people are generally more confident in the national currency, but they are also very price sensitive. If some better form of payment, payment condition or even for of debt are provided them, they accept end use also the local currency and the community accounting system. How can the local currencies give assistance to the society and the local economy to achieve their goals? How successful are they? What kind of models could be effective in Hungary? This study tries to answer these questions.
ETHICAL CONCERNS FOR MARKETING RESEARCH IN 3D ONLINE ENVIRONMENTS
Ioannis Krasonikolakis, Nancy Pouloudi Southampton Business School, U.K.
Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece
Research conducted in 3D online environments involves the recruitment of avatars in the research process. Ethical concerns arise through this process such as the selection of the environment, the anonymity and privacy of the avatars’ users, and data confidentiality. Researchers need state-of-the-art guidelines and rules in order to maintain the integrity of their research in this fast evolving context. The characteristics of the 3D online environments and the behavior and experiences of their users set the boundaries and guide the way regarding the ethical research in this context. The paper employs an interdisciplinary desk-research approach. It critically reviews related literature, highlights the involved stakeholders, discusses ethical issues within the
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marketing research process, provides ethical guidelines and identifies blurred areas in conducting or participating in research in 3D online environments, and concludes with providing direct future research avenues. NON-PROFIT SPONSORSHIP IN LIGA BBVA. THE CASE OF FC BARCELONA, MÁLAGA CF AND
GRANADA CF
Gema Lobillo, Xavier Ginesta University of Malaga, Spain
University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia, Spain
The agreement in 2006 between FC Barcelona and Unicef for a non-profit sponsorship during 5 years become a breaking point in the sponsorship strategy of Liga BBVA soccer clubs. FC Barcelona would pay 1.5 million Euros every year to this UN agency as part of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy, lead by its Foundation. According to this agreement, Unicef would become the main shirt sponsor of FC Barcelona, creating a successful alliance between two global brands. The UN agency had been the main shirt sponsor of FC Barcelona until 2010. In 2010 FC Barcelona signed a five years shirt sponsorship agreement with Qatar Sports Investment (QSI) that will report 30 million Euros yearly to the club. Five years after the agreement between FC Barcelona and the Unicef, another Spanish soccer club, Málaga CF, also decided to start a non-profit sponsorship with an international agency, such as UNESCO, for four years. However, the outcomes of this agreement have not been the same as the benefits that FC Barcelona had after its association with Unicef. While the Catalan club could position its brand as “more than a club in the world”, the Andalusian club has not had the opportunity to reposition its brand and benefits have not been those that were expected. What are the main reasons to understand why the Unicef agreement was successful and the UNESCO non-profit sponsorship was not? Is non-profit sponsorship an efficient CSR strategy to reinforce the position of soccer brands in its sport markets? This paper wants to answer these questions, and it follows a study case methodology to present the 3 experiences where a Spanish soccer club has used non-profit sponsorship in its CSR program. Although FC Barcelona and Málaga CF have been the most important cases of this type of sponsorship, the last season Granada CF become the third Spanish club that started a non-profit sponsorship program. However, “Hijos del fútbol” [Soons of football] is a local CSR program in Granada that will allow the club, using non-profit sponsorship, to build a soccer school for children that have one (or both) of its parents on prison.
SOCIAL MEDIA USE IN NGO MARKETING CAMPAINGNS – CASE STUDIES FROM POLAND
Lewicki Marcin Poznan University of Economics, Poland
The vast development of new technologies along with steady growth of Internet user base resulted in growing number of organizations that turn towards social media. Organizations are partly forced to create their social media presence in order to effectively communicate with their customers and they cannot longer limit their marketing efforts only to traditional ways like for example TV commercials or simple Internet advertisement. One of the core values of social media are its range and interactivity. Through social media organizations are able to engage with their customers on completely new, much higher, level. It’s also easier to bring attention of nowadays customers to most important problems within social media since more and more of them simple live their lives in there. The main purpose of this article is to present possible ways of social media
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implementation in NGO Marketing Campaigns based on case studies from Poland. Moreover main pros and cons, and possible trends of social media use in NGO Marketing will be discussed.
CROWDFUNDING AND THE MARKETING OF THE THIRD SECTOR. THE QUEST FOR
EFFICIENCY IN CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGNS
Judit Mata, Josep Rom, Pere Masip Ramon Llull University, Spain
In 2012 more than one million crowdfunding campaigns were financed worldwide campaigns as diverse as gaming categories, publications, plays, musical projects social causes or technological products (Massolution, 2012) and 11% of crowdfunding platforms in the world have their headquarters in the Spanish State (Muñoz, 2013). Are we witnessing a new financing instrument for NGOs? Judging by industry data, it appears that crowdfunding campaigns are a good way to disseminate and make both projects profit as those who defend nonprofit social causes; the condition that there is always a group that is deemed necessary and empathetic enough campaign to connect and activate this group. This need has led many media and marketing companies specialize in crowdfunding, mainly in the United States. Some that stand out are marketing firms and public relations (CommandPartners, 2.0 and Shmedia Agency), companies specializing in customer management (BackerKit), video production (Adam Lisagor) and payment gateways (Stripe, Affirm or PayPal) , among others (Nicholson, 2013). The objective of this research is to ascertain the effectiveness that are currently crowdfunding campaigns, as a communication and marketing (Steinberg, Emerson, 2012), in projects of social organizations, and provide tools that may be useful to NGOs which want to launch crowdfunding campaign in Spain. Our work aims to contribute to improving the design of crowdfunding campaigns (Albaigès, 2013) by evaluating ten key variables for the success of a campaign. We have identified 10 variables in successful crowdfunding campaigns, based on literature review of various authors, and we analyzed the presence or absence of these variables over a thousand crowdfunding campaigns. The data were obtained from Verkami, the main Spanish crowdfunding platform. From 1 January 2013 until 31 December 2013, a total of 1,252 campaigns.
A SURVEY-BASED ANALYSIS REGARDING CSR PRACTICES IN THE ROMANIAN TOURISM
DISTRIBUTION SECTOR
Ovidiu I. Moisescu Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania
The paper investigates the extent to which the largest Romanian travel agencies, in terms of net turnover and profitability, adopt CSR practices. The analyzed data regards a set of relevant Romanian travel agencies, which during the last five years have been present at least once in an annual ranking regarding the highest net turnover and/or profits of such specialized businesses. In order to evaluate the level of CSR practices adoption in the investigated travel agencies, an online survey was conducted among their top managers, mostly marketing managers (one respondent for each travel agency). The questionnaire was adapted based on the recent European Commission’s awareness-raising questionnaire regarding CSR, and comprised several sets of items reflecting employee and workplace policies, environmental policies, marketplace policies, community policies, and, respectively, company values and their dissemination among employees, customers, business partners and other stakeholders. The results of the current research show, on one hand, a relatively high engagement of the top Romanian travel agencies in certain CSR activities, but, on the other
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hand, a relatively low adoption of specific practices in some domains. Although the literature regarding the impact of perceived CSR in the tourism industry suggests a significant level of influence on corporate reputation and, indirectly, on consumers’ behavior, trust, loyalty and other important commercial aspects, the investigated travel agencies don’t seem to pay a high importance on communicating their CSR practices to customers, or to the general public. The paper also tries to correlate the results regarding the extent to which CSR practices are adopted and communicated with the financial/commercial performance in terms of turnover and profitability. Acknowledgements: This work was supported from the European Social Fund through Sectorial Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2007-2013, project number POSDRU/159/1.5/S/142115, project title "Performance and Excellence in Postdoctoral Research in Romanian Economic Science Domain".
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF FINANCIAL CORPORATIONS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Ioana Andrada Moldovan (Gavril) The Bucharest University of Economic Studies
Social responsibility in general, and especially corporate social responsibility of financial institutions have become highly debated topics in the aftermath of the global financial crisis that burst in 2008, as the crisis has arisen due to the irresponsible behavior of the financial sector companies. The problems encountered have brought to world attention the fact that between the financial sector and the real economy there had been a break, so that the financial system has not fulfilled effectively the role of financing, but rather paved a move away from the objectives of sustainable development. This paper aims to analyze the social responsibilities of financial companies and outline directions for action in this regard, so that they become promoters of sustainable development.
THE MEDICAL SERVICES IN ROMANIA IN TERMS OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Ana-Madalina Potcovaru Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania
This paper presents the situation of Romanian public services after 1989 and their characteristics and importance for the national competiveness and for the quality of life. The quality of live is an important issue that determines sustainability. It is important to observe the way in which Romania adopted and interpreted the EU legislation of public services. To clarify this, it is presented the national legislation and the EU legislation from this domain. The most important feature is the accessibility of the services because it is not appropriate to offer a public service to only a part of the population. The accessibility, the social equity and the availability of the services are essential for the functionality of the public services. The system deals with many organizational problems that affect the final results: the customers. This study presents the main problems and draws some directions in which the public services can be reestablished in order to be sustainable. Health status in Romania is poor compared with the other European countries: average life expectancy is six year shorter than the EU average. There is a little information on health system and the impact of reforms. During the last years, the Romania Health System is facing a crisis. One important problem is the bribing of doctors and another mobility of the doctors. The reform in this sector can be implemented by maximize the quality of services and their performance to maintain stability and sustainability. Ensuring access to health services is an issue of concern for the most of
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the population. In this article are examine the consequences of unequal access to health and the effects of inequitable distributions of the determinants of health. Corporate Social Responsibility is a new concept for Romania and began to be applied in the large multinational companies. All this measures are taken in order to improve the life quality of the persons who benefit of these services. In this context, there are presented viable solutions adopted by the organizations, in order to obtain performance, satisfied customers and good results. Also there are given results of good-practices in terms of social responsibility in the health care organizations. Acknowledgment: This paper was co-financed from the European Social Fund, through the Sectorial Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2007-2013, project number POSDRU/159/1.5/S/138907 “Excellence in scientific interdisciplinary research, doctoral and postdoctoral, in the economic, social and medical fields - EXCELIS”, coordinator The Bucharest University of Economic Studies.
CORPORTE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, INNOVATION AND TOP MANAGEMENT TEAM VALUES
OF ANDALUSIAN SMES
Susana Ortega González, Gloria Cuevas Rodríguez Pablo de Olavide University, Spain
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has turned into a significant topic of research and debate in the last decades, due mainly to the necessity of finding a new economic system more sustainable, fair and good for the whole society in the long run. At this point of globalization, organizations are becoming conscious that their mission goes beyond obtaining their own economic benefit: yet they are beginning to assume that they have a responsibility with the whole, present and future, society and they are also becoming conscious that another way of competing and survival is required. We consider CSR at its highest level, that is, as the strategic orientation of companies which aligns its values, behavior and capacities with the expectations and needs of the whole society, promoting both community and the own firm growth through continuous improvement and innovation. This paper aims to deepen, through a quantitative study, in the symbiotic nature of the relation between CSR and innovation strategies in Andalusian SMEs, evaluating if they act indeed as complementary and enhancing strategies (responsible and sustainable innovation), fostering each other, as some authors have already studied in other countries. But at the same time, we pretend to relate the strategy election to the Top Management Team (TMT) personal values, as one of the key drivers of corporate strategy, establishing the concrete group of desired values which drive the adoption and implementation of a sustainable innovation strategy. This will be useful in recruiting processes in order to select and incorporate the accurate people whose values will contribute to the proper implementation of the corporate strategy and the achievement of goals. As a secondary objective, we expect to assess the gap between SMEs and exemplary companies in innovation and CRS and establish an action plan to improve the levels of social responsibility and innovation in the Andalusian business network in the long-term.
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EFFECT OF COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES ON SMALL FIRMS’ SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
ENGAGEMENT
Rajat Panwar, Erlend Nybakk, Eric Hansen, Jonatan Pinkse University of British Columbia, Canada
Norwegian Forestry Institute As, Norway Oregon State University, USA
Grenoble Ecole de Management, France
Having emerged primarily in a large firms’ context, the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gradually expanded to small firms, which are now considered indispensable for achieving environmental and social sustainability. Because large firms face pressures from their shareholders for justification of CSR expenditures, there has been a big push to establish a business case for CSR. Strategic CSR has therefore become a dominant view to examine CSR in a large firm context. Small firms, on the other hand, engage in social responsibility activities for genuine concerns toward communities and generally do not view such activities as investments that would pay back. Due to such fundamental differences and many more, scholars have argued that the phenomenon underlying small firms’ social responsibility behavior is not captured in the extant CSR literature, which grew largely in a large firm context. This paper has both a theoretical and an empirical component. First, we briefly survey the extant literature in small firms’ social responsibility field primarily to highlight the differences in CSR manifestation between a small and a large firm context. Then we theoretically link different competitive strategies, specifically two of Porter’s three generic strategies (cost leadership and differentiation strategy), with CSR and hypothesize why the link between generic strategies and engagement in social responsibility would be untenable in a small firm context. Empirically, we test our hypotheses using data collected from 478 small firms representing multiple manufacturing sectors in the US. Data analysis, performed using an OLS regression, showed support for our stated hypotheses. Potential theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
WHAT IS THE CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PUBLIC FINANCIAL
INSTITUTIONS IN SUPPORTING THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT?
Anett Parádi-Dolgos, Zoltán Urbán, Veronika Gál Kaposvár University, Hungary
The present global economic crisis resulted in an increased focus on the public financial institutions that performed an anticyclical activity. The role of public financial institutions differs country by country and they had and have a secondary position in those countries where the state-owned companies in general take a minor or secondary position in the economy e.g. in the U.K. and in the USA. The basic differences between publicly and privately owned financial institutions/financial service providers are in their mission, goals, organisational culture and corporate governance. Those public financial institutions are successful in creating value-added which are able to focus on their mission, strategy and corporate social responsibility. Historically the European financial service provider sector had strong relationships with their governments and states starting in the ancient Egypt where the first deposits were stored in state granaries continued in the ancient Rome where the first public bank supported the poor via using the confiscated property of the criminals for lending without charging interest. The first public financial institution in the modern sense was established in Barcelona in the early 15th century followed by others in Italy and the oldest institution in this respect is the Bank of Monte dei Pasci di
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Siena still exists in the 21st century. This bank was „managed” by the magistrates of City of Siena to aid the underprivileged. Even today the activities of these institutions are unquestionable but they have to act in a very regulated world where their mission and goal, their innovation policy and their corporate social governance should go through the test of three questions: 1. Do they perform a public remit? 2. What is the market failure in their respective national economy which validates their activity? 3. Do they squeeze out the private sector players? Remember the Spamalot what happened if someone were not able to answer any of the three questions.
GREEN BANKING – CAN CSR HELP TO REACH SUSTAINABLE BANKING?
Éva Pintér University of Pécs, Hungary
In the last decade a lot of publications are dealing with the social and environmental responsibility of financial institutions. After the financial crisis, the operation of banks became highly regulated, and most of the regulations – highlighted eg. Basel III. – are against the quick growth of banking profitability. Banks are expected to improve their competitive advantage by demonstrating economic development, while promoting environment care and social responsibility. This sustainable finance means to manage environmental and social risks in corporate lending and project financing. Green financial institutions have developed a wide range of innovations that can support sustainable development. Another way to reach and keep clients and to fulfil the requirements of the society is the social responsibility. The corporate social responsibility can be a strategy or only a marketing approach for a bank. In my study I determine factors to measure CSR activity which aim is not against the sustainable operation of a bank. The study highlights a few external and internal factor that support this aim, and which are regulated by international principles. However the survey shows that in the relevant literature there are a lot of ways to define sustainability and its achievement. All of them can be interpreted associated with green banking operation. The goal of this paper is to identify the role of financial institutions in achieving sustainable development and “being CSR”, and stress its strategic importance. The aim is to show, why and how can this sector become the promoter of sustainability, integrating CSR in the lending strategy and avoiding the negative consequences of regulatory issues.
CSR AT GREENPEACE – STAKEHOLDER COMMUNICATIONS AFTER A SCANDAL
Wybe Popma Brighton Business School, U.K.
In 2014 Greenpeace International was confronted within a matter of months by two “scandals”. The initial embarrassment of a 3.4 million Euro loss due to currency speculation was followed by an internal revolt over an executive of Greenpeace who commuted daily to his workplace by airplane. In this case study the views of three stakeholder groups (management, employees and donating supporters) will be analysed with the aim of establishing the role of teleological, deontological and virtue ethics in the public debate around CSR and the role of senior management (cf. van de Ven, 2008; Burns and By, 2012). As Brunk (2012) shows, the public perception of Corporate Social Responsibility has both teleological and deontological elements. From a teleological perspective Greenpeace can be judged on the results of its decisions, the waste of donor money and a larger than necessary carbon footprint. From a deontological
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viewpoint Greenpeace management is acting in a “bad” way by using donor money to speculate on financial markets or choosing to commute daily using air travel. In this case study (Yin, 2008) an analysis is presented of public responses of Greenpeace management (in the press and on official organisation blogs), responses of donating supporters (responses to the official blogs) and the responses of employees of Greenpeace who published an open letter in which they call for specific organisational changes within Greenpeace as a reaction to the scandals. Findings show that all three stakeholder groups agree on the importance of a high moral standard within the organisation. Senior management takes a more teleological view however recognises their deontological responsibilities. Employees put more emphasis on the deontological aspects (bad behaviour) as do donating supporters. Furthermore, donating supporters base their perception of Greenpeace on the virtue shown by the organisation and threaten to change their supporting behaviour accordingly. References: Brunk, K. (2012) ‘Un/ethical Company and Brand Perceptions: Conceptualising and Operationalising Consumer Meanings’, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 111, no. 4, pp. 551-565. Burns, B. & By, R.T. (2012) ‘Leadership and Change: The Case for Greater Ethical Clarity’, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 108, no. 2, pp. 239-252. Van de Ven, B. (2008) ‘An Ethical Framework for the Marketing of Corporate Social Responsibility’, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 82, no. 2, pp. 339-352. Yin, R.K. (2008) Case Study Research: Design and Methods, 4th edition, London: Sage.
BUSINESS SUSTAINABILITY, SCALABILITY AND ADAPTABILITY REACHED THROUGH THE
IMPLEMENTATION OF A CIRCULAR STRATEGIC MODEL
Răzvan Rădulescu The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania
A current and important area of interest regarding the sustainability of business enterprises is in the functionality of their business system, on which they base their strategic objectives and resource management policies. From this core strategic system, structural patterns are developed and relationships between operational and structural constituent elements are formed. The manner in which internal process and sub-processes of a business model generate their subsequent structure (using their available resources) gives an organization the required adaptability and scalability to withstand eventual shifts in capital and information from its operational environment, by generating a higher or lower degree of flexibility in the organizational structure. The circular model I propose has the relation between the business processes and the structures designed through the implementation of a series of self-similar patterns that resemble the structure and behavior of natural systems, called fractals. This fractalization of the operational structure is developed in relation with the evolution of the main business process. The circular model it identifies the shifts that may cause internal tensions throughout its processes and maintains its connection with the environment through a network of feedback loops. This characteristic of self-similarity in the sections of the structure designed in conjunction with the self-feeding characteristic of the main process will generate the base for its scalability and will open the way to a series of complex adaptations. As every stage of the model is enabled with its own sub-process and transfer phase, their embedded feedback loops generate a non-linear behavior with an emergent topology and a dynamic network of multiplicity. In the following paper, the proposed dynamic and circular model characterizes the internal tensions signaled throughout the transfer phases as thermoeconomic transfer zones.
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This paper will present the first iteration of a circular strategic model’s main process, and the symmetrical fractal representation it generates, as the iteration is presented in a state of equilibrium, and is developed in a theoretically open operational environment.
INVESTIGATING CONSUMER SCEPTICISM TOWARDS CSR IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL
INDUSTRY
Evie Ranscombe, Anastasios Theofilou, Georgiana Grigore Bournemouth University, U.K.
This study investigates consumer scepticism towards corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the pharmaceutical industry. Scepticism will be examined as both an individual trait and a situational state. Previous research surrounding scepticism has not defined scepticism so distinctively. The rise in sceptical consumers and CSR communication exemplifies the need to investigate the area, specifically in such a scrutinised and heavily CSR investing industry. Consequently, this study will look at consumers’ individual scepticism and how this impacts on their scepticism in a situational context. A qualitative approach will be taken to gather in depth, rich data. Semi-structured interviews will be executed to develop understanding of individuals and their responses to CSR in the pharmaceutical industry. External stimuli will be presented to participants to discover what encourages consumers to attribute certain motives, which can impact on scepticism as a state, whilst simultaneously gaining a general insight into their perceptions of CSR in the pharmaceutical industry. The findings show that scepticism as a trait influences the way consumers evaluate information and how they respond to a situational context. Trait scepticism is a determinant of positive and negative perceptions. However, all consumers were sceptical towards the motives suggesting trait scepticism may not have impacted consumers’ situational scepticism as they all attributed self-serving motives. This paper exemplifies consumers’ responses to CSR in a situational context and how scepticism impacts their responses to stimuli, whilst also acknowledging their trait scepticism. With much criticism surrounding the pharmaceutical companies and rich investment, it is important to understand how CSR may be perceived by consumers. This research will allow new insights into an understudied industry and the potential barriers preventing effective CSR communication.
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN SPORT CLUBS IN POLAND
Agnieszka Rak Wroclaw University of Economics, Poland
The aim of this paper is to present functions and roles played by Corporate Social Responsibility in sport clubs in Poland and how they are perceived by clubs’ managers. Also ways of how that functions are influenced on demand and needs of customers who represent high awareness on the market and who make purchase decision based on brands intentions, social actions and sustainability. The attitude towards CSR is still changing on all the markets Entrepreneur and managers as well as clients are aware of importance of responsible and sustainable actions. Even sport fans focus more on how their favourite brands behave on the market and how they treat their own environment. That is why nowadays, polish sport clubs focus more on creating their brand image through closer relationships with their clients and fans. It often becomes a part of revitalisation process of their brands. In this paper, the actions taken in name of Sport Social Responsibility
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will be analysed. Information on sport clubs’ websites about CSR activities of the clubs will be analysed which may represent the range of the ways the CSR is used as a marketing and promotion tool. The data will be collected through in depth interviews with selected polish sport clubs managers. It will be analysed how important the Sport Social Responsibility as a part of club’s strategy is and what kind of social goals those clubs have. The comparison of polish sport clubs social activities will be to market leaders (as a benchmark western sport clubs representing top leagues and best practices will be presented with their CSR actions).
CREATING THE BRAND IMAGE OF POLISH CORPORATE FOUNDATIONS
Mateusz Rak Wroclaw School of Banking, Poland
Nowadays is observing a change in the behavior of enterprises in the market. It is a result of the adoption of market orientation. This means companies accepting the principle that a condition for success is to offer products and services that customers perceive as carriers of extraordinary value. Exemplification of this approach is the creation and development of the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility which means the recognition of the company's strategy of social objectives alongside business goals. In practice, this is manifested in the implementation by commercial companies: ethical tasks, environmental and social benefits of all its stakeholders, as well as in the appointment of the company’s own foundations (corporate foundations). Foundations are organizationally and financially dependent on their founders. Their task is to present the social mission of the company and the fulfillment of the tasks for the benefit of society. Corporate foundations reconcile duty with respect to the founder (companies) and the public. The purpose of this article is to present the image of corporate foundations in Poland in terms of the strategic objectives of their founders and pursued charitable objectives of corporate foundation. ELECTRIC VEHICLES AND THE NEW IDENTITY OF THE SMART CITIES. TRANSPORT POLICIES
AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE CITY BRAND IN MILTON KEYNES AND BARCELONA
Josep Rom, T. O’Sullivan, Enric Ordeix, S. Potter Ramon Llull University, Spain
Open University, U.K.
Cities everywhere are competing for the future through strategic brand positioning. The knowledge city brand (Florida, 2009) is giving way to the smart city brand as the desired position of many urban planners (as if the locus of knowledge were moving outwards from its citizens to the infrastructure of the city itself). An important source of differentiation within Smart cities is sustainable transport. Our research aims to explore the evolution of transport policies to communication strategies to promote EVs in Milton Keynes (England) and Barcelona (Spain). Promoting sustainable transport and electric vehicles are two important indicators in the stories of Milton Keynes and Barcelona. The managers of these cities have incorporated these challenges within discourse on the identity of the city: “Developing Milton Keynes as a showcase low carbon city is a collective piece of work”, writes the Mayor of Milton Keynes (Buck, 2010). "We want the electric motorcycle as the symbol of our city," says the Mayor of Barcelona (La Vanguardia, 2014). Low carbon city bike and electric bike can stand as brand concepts. How do they operate as attributes of the city brand? In what sense are they concepts that indicate a new strategy of city branding? Drawing on documentary sources and interviews with transport and communication managers from the cities of Milton Keynes and Barcelona, we investigate the role occupied by EVs in civic communication policies
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and brand strategy. What is the role of citizens and other stakeholders in the design of an identity based on the concepts of sustainable mobility and smart city? According to city branding theory, residents evaluate physical, symbolic and other elements of their city (Ashworth and Kavaratzis, 2009; Florian, 2002; Kavartis, 2009). Cities can use branding as a way to unite their stakeholders around a new competitive identity and to communicate their message to target audiences (Herstein, Berger, Jaffe, 2013; Kavaratis and Hatch, 2013). New ways of communicating “for and with the public” are becoming apparent (Florida, 2009; Payne, 2009), while a more strategic approach to public relations activity is required in the light of new, more social, forms of consumption. This leads us from the concept of ‘shared interest’ between consumers and organizations, involving dialogue and communicative symmetry (Grunig, 2006; Grunig, et al., 2002. 2009), to what we may call ‘shared identity’, where organisations and their publics discover symbolic as well as practical commonalities. In many markets in Europe citizens are calling for greater community influence through social organizations on the development of less environmentally-harmful products and services (such as electric mobility). Such activism is sensitive to corporate as well as societal values and can produce positive opinions towards opinion leaders and other stakeholders that act as change agents in society (Ordeix and Rom, 2012; Sevin, 2014) – including cities, organisations and citizens involved in sustainable transport and related industries.
CSR AS A TOOL FOR CRISIS MANAGEMENT
Mehroz Sajjad, Dora Gonzalez Emerson College, Boston, USA
In a world constantly bombarded by one crisis after another, it is imperative that corporations learn to treat these crises as opportunities and use Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a tool for crisis management. Theoretical framework is without a doubt the foundation of a successful CSR and crisis management strategy however just focusing on the theory of CSR, as a tool of crisis management will not suffice. An analysis of the various cases where CSR has been used, as a tool for crisis management, will present a better picture in terms of what works or worked and what does not or will not work. Therefore, this paper will focus on the best practices in the field of CSR by highlighting the various instances in which different companies and famous brands including but not limited to Nike have had to deal with a crisis or a series of crises over the years and how they`ve used CSR as a tool to overcome and manage those crisis. The paper does not suggest that CSR is the sole tool to resolve a crisis befalling a corporation, but is indeed a tool that is misused and misconstrued by many. Therefore the paper will also present an analysis of cases in which companies have failed at leveraging their CSR efforts in in times of crisis. Finally, the paper will also include a series of recommendations, based on the analysis of the cases presented that will outline the various ways in which a CSR strategy can be used effectively to manage a crisis.
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ETHICAL CONSUMPTION FROM PEOPLE TO PLACE: FAIRTRADE TOWNS PROMOTING AND
DEVELOPING COLLECTIVE, INSTITUTIONAL AND CIVIC ETHICAL CONSUMPTION IN ‘OUR
TOWN
Anthony Samuel University of South Wales, U.K.
This paper aims to highlight empirical insights into the relationship between ethical consumers and place. It presents empirical insights generated from grounded theory research into the marketing dynamics of Fairtrade Towns. A research process that included immersive firsthand experience working with a Fairtrade Town steering group over a three year period and interviews with a number of stakeholders active in the Fairtrade Towns Movement. This paper theorises a Fairtrade Town as a place that has enabled the transition of promoting ethical consumption to individual consumers into a dynamic that expand our understanding of ethical consumption, as displayed through collective institutional and civic consumption. Fairtrade Towns are subsequently, argued to have contributed to the transformation of social relations within place, developing a place of ethical consumption from ‘consumer collectives formed around brands through social relations based on identity and affinity’ Aitken & Campelo (2013.916). Such transformations are argued to resonate in ‘place’ itself being used as a marketing dynamic. The social constructs of place have subsequently been used to interweave situated people, territorial entities of local economic systems, regimes of regulation and private homes into marketing activities that encourage ethical consumption. Empirically the paper therefore presents the marketing dynamics of Fairtrade Towns’ as fusing together consumption, people, place and responsibility to develop individual, collective , institutional and civic ethical consumption in ‘our town’. The Fairtrade town, through its aim to influence patterns and processes of consumption is consequently considered as a mechanism for place(ing) responsibility, for in effect enabling global citizenship to become part of the fabric of places. Fairtrade Towns are therefore suggested to have successfully enabled the transition of ethical/sustainable consumerism from individual interactions to become architects of a validated ethically branded place. THE STORY OF BRADDOCK PENNSYLVANIA: CORPORATE PHILANTHROPY AND ITS ROLE IN
REIMAGINING PLACE AND DEVELOPING SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
Anthony Samuel, Dan Taylor University of South Wales, U.K.
This paper aims to improve our understanding of the link between place, corporate philanthropy and the development of social enterprises. To develop its argument it explores the historic trajectory of Braddock Pennsylvania, a place whose landscape is forged from a historic time line of corporate philanthropy, globalisation, rust belt decline and social entrepreneurship. We posit that the journey of Braddock when viewed through a tapestry of academic disciplines such as social geography, place, globalization, corporate philanthropy and social entrepreneurship provides us with valuable insights into the role corporate philanthropy can play in developing social enterprises. This study transpired from empirical research conducted into the authenticity of Levis 2010 campaign that used ‘rust belt’ Braddock for its back drop. A campaign that witnessed Levis, over a period of two years investing over two million dollars into Braddock’s social and physical infrastructure. Following discussions with four focus groups made up of future campaign managers, dialogue emerged that suggested the Levi Braddock campaign acted as a catalyst for social engagement, social entrepreneurship and social enterprises. Subsequently these empirical insights sparked an interest in furthering our understanding of the role corporate philanthropy has played in developing today’s
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typography of Braddock. This paper’s nature of enquiry followed a process of traditional and new media discourse analysis and presents an argument that corporate philanthropy when committed to ‘place’ can act as a catalyst for social enterprise development, and social entrepreneurship. Braddock is therefore presented as a post rust belt ‘place’ that is reimagining itself through corporate philanthropy, social / community engagement and social entrepreneurship.
SUSTAINABILITY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL TOURISM IN BRAZIL
Silvério Marcelo dos Santos, Cleto Bárbara Fernanda Alves FATEC de Itapetininga, Brazil
Brazil is a country of vast area and marked social differences, antagonized by regions of high industrial, technological and commercial standard with other areas of economic and social difficulties. The Vale do Rio Ribeira de Iguape, in the southern state of São Paulo is a mountainous and inaccessible region for agricultural technologies. It became the site less accessible to investments from the Government. For that reason, forgotten, their inhabitants have resorted to means of environmental degradation to subsist. Thus, communities like Bairro da Serra, in the municipality of Iporanga in São Paulo state, rudimentary and illegal methods used to hunt jaguars, monkeys, wild boars and other wild animals, leading to warnings of danger extinction of some endemic species in past decades. Likewise, these people explored the flora with intense extraction of wood and palm heart. The palm heart extraction led to the near extinction also Jussara Palm, since after cut its stem to remove the product he no longer regenerate. Furthermore, the use of illegal mining with mercury contaminated the water complex in the region. All these methods did not give livelihood to the local inhabitants decent life, making them live the thin line of poverty and hunger. However, the discovery of tourism and environmental power in the region has changed, intensively, for those local residents. The geology of the area belongs to a specific karst limestone formation and the existence of numerous caves priceless natural beauty. Since then, an area of environmental protection in the region known as Parque Estadual e Turístico do Alto Ribeira, began to encourage local residents lead tourists to discover the caves of the region. These residents before loggers, hunters and others, who contributed to the environmental imbalance, began to take courses offered by the government and became the greatest protectors of the forests, animals and caves. Thus, when conducting tourists, environmental monitors received cash for work as a guide and went back to their family income to tourism. Set up a residents' association and specialize in security, culture and local ecology. Today, defend the forest that brings them financial support by the tourism action and environmental protection, and do not for the devastation action anymore.
NEW TRENDS IN COMMUNICATION OF SOCIAL CAUSES: CAUSE-RELATED MARKETING IN
AGE 2.0
Carolina Sorribas Morales, Eva Santana, Enric Ordeix Ramon Llull University, Spain
Communication on Cause-Related Marketing programs has improved significantly in past years, not only due to the work of advertising companies but also thanks to non-profit organizations. Even if the traditional communication channels still prevail when promoting such initiatives, nowadays on-line channels, social media and mobile phones play a key role, enabling the spreading of news to a broader audience within a limited period of time. These days any company would consider to launch Cause-Related Marketing programs without using the next generation Web 2.0 as communication channel of their social impact
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practices and social responsibility policies. However, some experts and non-profit organizations begin to warn against the poor involvement and compromise to Cause-Related Marketing shown by some of the users of social media such as Facebook, who believe that by clicking ‘Like’ they are already supporting the social cause. The article provides a critical thought about the broadcasting of Cause-Related Marketing programs through the social media, and pretends to point out how to improve the involvement and compromise shown by consumers of such marketing initiatives.
GREENWASHING AS A SYMPTOM OF CSR’S PATHOLOGY
Ilona Swiatek-Barylska University of Lodz, Poland
Understanding and definitions of CSR have changed for years. While the economical, legal, and ethical expectations towards organizations had vary, it is almost certain that all societies across centuries have had some level of expectation that organizations would act responsibly[1] These expectation cause that companies are getting interested in different forms of activity which can be called (or labeled) CSR. Given the economic surrounding of short-term profit maximization, companies are motivated to promise consumers green products, but then deliver goods and services in the cheapest possible way, despite the environmental impact. The companies which spend more money to appear environmentally responsible than to be environmentally responsible [2] are not social responsible and their operations can be described as greenwashing [3]. The papers deals with this problem. The sources, categories, consequences and methods of preventions of greenwashing will be described and analyzed. As different cases will be presented in the paper, it can open the discussion of the consequences of growing popularity of CSR in modern business. References: Barnett T. Corporate Social Responsibility‘in Reference for Business Encyclopedia of Business, 2nd ed., viewed 5/22/2010, www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Comp-De/Corporate-Social-Responsibility.html. EnviroMedia Social Marketing, What is Greenwashing? It’s Whitewashing But with a Green Brush., www.greenwashingindex.com. Gallicano T.F., A Critical Analysis of Greenwashing Claims, Public Relations Journal, vol. 5, no.3.
STRATEGIC CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND LOCAL HEALTH ACTIVISM: AN
EXPLORATION INTO THE CASE OF NOVARTIS’ ISSUES MANAGEMENT
KyuJin Shim Singapore Management University, Singapore
As globalization is bringing exponentially growing yet untapped markets to transnational corporations (TNC), public relations is going beyond a domestic enterprise. To note, there is a growing possibility for conflicts and crisis due to the lack of understanding of the cultural and social discrepancy between local and international markets. In particular, global pharmaceutical company’s public relations should be considered in the realm of global health arena. Global health needs philanthropic efforts from both private and public sectors because it is related to basic human rights and dignity. In this sense, the health care industry should be aware of the tenuous line between motivations for purposes of profit and motivations for bettering global health care. At the same time, industrial ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) should be considered in local contexts, meeting publics’ societal and cultural needs. Through case analysis of Novartis’ issues management and public relations strategy in South Korea, the study explores how Korean health
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activists evaluate the relationship with Novartis and the factors behind the negative evaluations of public relations and CSR strategies. The study found that although they are satisfied with the relationship with Novartis and they benefit from the outcomes of Novartis’ CSR activities, the health activists don’t regard the company as good or trustworthy. Their reasons lie in two beliefs. First, they think the company never put patients’ and the community’s wellbeing before its financial interests. Also, they claimed that Novartis’ effort in CSR investment is insufficient repayment to the community in comparison to its great success in the Korean market. The study suggests global pharmaceutical company’s issues management should consider local culture and politics to build a better deal with issues raised by local health activism.
ASPECTS ABOUT ETHICAL CLIMATE IN ORGANIZATIONS
Aurelia Stănescu Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania
In the business context, ethics plays a crucial role in reinforcement / promoting a company’s image or, on the contrary, in deteriorating / undermining it. The ethical / unethical climate is absolutely inseparable from the company’s organizational culture, a culture which is backed by its employees. Through the decisions they adopt (they make) and through the actions they carry on the employees (managers and executants) behave ethically or not. It’s well-known the fact that the circumstantial and organizational factors influence the employees’ behavior and attitude. The organizational climate refers to the way in which the company deals with a multitude of aspects: the employee’s responsabilities, equity, trust, welfare. Taking into account that the collocation “ethics in business” seems to be a contradictions on terms (because it involves, on the other hand, the profits’ maximization and on the other, showing deference to the others), in this paper the author aims to present some of the causes of the unethical behavior of the companies, its effect on the recorded results, but also some possibilities of rectifying the undesirable situation (actions taken in order to achieve an ethical climate in companies).
THE SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE LOCAL CURRENCIES
Károly Szóka University of West Hungary, Hungary
We can meet with local currency and kind of local currency initiatives in many places of the world. These can be either self-help, administrative systems (for example Time Dollars, Ithaca Hours) or emissions of a money substitute’s local currency (for example WIR, Chiemgauer). Each system encourages having resort to local goods and services i.e. it operates in a particular location or region. It strengthens the regional economic ties and tries to fend off the negative economic effects e.g. unemployment or bankruptcy of firms or traders. The local currency works similar to the vouchers but it is transferable and has secondary circulation. It complements the trading of national currency but it does not want to replace it. Its role is to connect economic and non-economic stakeholders; protects the local economy and as well it can be used like an anti-crisis resource. The difficulty of the system’s administration is to set up an organization which operates it. The costs of marketing and public relations are high; it is also hard to convince the entrepreneurs of joining it; there is no governmental guarantee and the early mistrust is also significant. The local currency can only be operated by regional co-operation and for this the collaboration of the local governments, entrepreneurs and individuals is needed. The application of the local currency may be more
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positive social aspects that is why very important the analysis of these factors. Overall, these effects could contribute to the sustainable business. STUDY REGARDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF ROMANIAN LEGAL FRAMEWORK ACCORDING
TO THE EUROPEAN UNION CORPORATE GOVERNANCE REGULATIONS
Ramona Iulia Țarțavulea (Dieaconescu) Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania
One of first international organizations which pointed out the importance of implementing a corporate governance regime is OECD. The OECD Principles of Corporate Governance were endorsed by OECD Ministers in 1999 and have since become an international benchmark for policy makers, investors, corporations and other stakeholders worldwide. They have advanced the corporate governance agenda and provided specific guidance for legislative and regulatory initiatives in both OECD and non OECD countries (OECD, 2004). The concerns regarding corporate governance regulation in the European Union have materialized in the release of a consultation in 2003 that was aimed at modernizing EU company law and improving corporate governance. After that, directives were adopted for setting ground rules on corporate governance principles. Priorities on this subject were included in subsequent consultation carried out in 2005 and 2006. The EU corporate governance framework includes legislation in areas such as corporate governance statements, transparency of listed companies, shareholders’ rights and takeover bids as well as ‘soft law’, namely recommendations on the role and on the remuneration of companies’ directors. An effective corporate governance framework is of crucial importance because well-run companies are likely to be more competitive and more sustainable in the long term (European Commission, 2012). The rules at European level were defined to ensure that basic standards are respected. These rules need to be included in national corporate governance codes so that companies have a reference regarding their obligations to shareholders and stakeholders, especially with respect to transparency and information dissemination. In Romania, the legal framework on corporate governance is still in process of development, as the legal sources on this topic are within laws related to accounting, auditing and various financial regulations. Some progress has been made by the Bucharest Stock Exchange through the adoption a Code of Corporate Governance for listed companies. This paper aims to analyze the manner in which European regulation and OECD recommendations regarding corporate governance are implemented in Romania. The conclusions of the study will lead to formulation of recommendations on further development of the legal framework in Romania. The research methodology is based on fundamental research on corporate governance including documentation on secondary resources, mainly official papers and related scientific articles. Acknowledgment This paper was co-financed from the European Social Fund, through the Sectorial Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2007-2013, project number POSDRU/159/1.5/S/138907 "Excellence in scientific interdisciplinary research, doctoral and postdoctoral, in the economic, social and medical fields -EXCELIS", coordinator The Bucharest University of Economic Studies.
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IN THE CLUB BUT OUT OF THE GAME – EVALUATION OF GHANA CLUB 100 CSR
COMMUNICATION
Ralph Tench, Mavis Amo-Mensah Leeds Metropolitan University, U.K.
Although the importance and benefits of corporate social responsibility (CSR) are widely recognised, there is strong evidence from different contexts that awareness about CSR activities is typically low among both internal and external stakeholders resulting from the absence of communication in CSR activities (Dawkins, 2004; Pomering and Dolnicar, 2009). Previous research suggests that, companies must communicate CSR if they want to be recognised for their responsible actions (Basil and Erlandson, 2008). This exploratory study, therefore, seeks to provide an understanding of the CSR communication landscape in the Ghanaian context. The central question is, are companies in Ghana communicating CSR effectively or falling behind international standards? Specifically, content analysis procedures drawn from the extant literature are used to examine the extent and type of CSR activities some of the top 100 companies in Ghana (The Ghana Club 100) communicate on their web sites. Research on CSR communication is so far limited compared to the vast literature on CSR (Ihlen et. al., 2011; Tench et. al. 2014). Particularly in emerging markets, studies have been found to be comparatively sparse (Birth et. al., 2008). This pioneering study will not only provide a strong base for CSR communication research in Ghana, it will contribute to addressing the disparity in the literature. Again, insight from the study will help to provide structures for improving corporate CSR communication in Ghana which can be adapted or applied in different contexts. Understanding how specific countries approach CSR communication will also have several useful implications for practitioners, regulators and academics by way of opening up discussions for more effective CSR communication practices in an increasingly globalized and interconnected world. References: Basil, D. Z., Erlandson, J. (2008). “Corporate social responsibility website representations: A longitudinal study of internal and external self-presentations”, Journal of Marketing Communications, 14(2), 125-137. Birth, G., Illia, L., Lurati, F., Zamparini, A. (2008). “Communicating CSR: Practices among Switzerland’s top 300 companies”, Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 13(2), 182-196. Dawkins, J. (2004). “Corporate responsibility: The communication challenge”, Journal of Communication Management, 9(2), 108-119. Ihlen Ø., Barlett, J. L., May, S. (2011). “Corporate social responsibility and communication”, In Ø. Ihlen, J. L. Barlett, S. May (Eds.) (pp. 1-22), The handbook of communication and corporate social responsibility, West Sussex, UK: Wiley. Pomering, A., Dolnicar, S. (2009). “Assessing the prerequisite of successful CSR implementation: Are consumers aware of CSR initiatives?”, Journal of Business Ethics, 85(supplement 2), 285-301. Tench, R., Sun, W., Jones, B. (2014). “Introduction: CSR communication as an emerging field of study”, In R. Tench, W. Sun, B. Jones (Eds.) (pp. 3-21), Communicating corporate social responsibility: Perspectives and practice (Critical studies on corporate responsibility, governance and sustainability, Vol. 6, Emerald Publishing Limited.
URBAN IDENTITY AND SUSTAINABILITY IN HISTORIC CITIES
Ümmügülsüm Ter Selcuk University, Turkey
To conserve and maintain the continuity of historic cities is an important phenomenon at global scale and plays an important role in creating urban development strategies. Besides it’s documental value to support cultural identity and continuity the preservation of historic cities or parts of cities are also important in urban aesthetics point of view. In this frame, urban identity and aesthetics were the most important aspects in the formation of cityscape and historical urban environments as far as cultural continuity was concerned. This study approaches to evaluate the urban identity of Konya historic city centre, is one of the richest settlement in Turkey in terms of historical and cultural resources in frame of sustainability, with reference to the
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findings of analytical research process carried out. Taken as the research area, Konya historic city centre, where commercial activities have begun and developed within the historical process, maintains its city centre identity even today. The historic city centre, whose local organization dates back to Seljuk Empire period, has undergone a physical and functional transformation process especially due to plannings with no concern of conservation at all, and urbanization which gained momentum after the proclamation of the Republic. The integration of newly-introduced life conditions with the historical structure could not be achieved, thus the city centre is now facing the risk of losing its authentic character. This study shows that urban design strategies are of great importance in order to emphasize the sustainability of historic identity and aesthetics, and increase its perceptibility. Providing the historical and cultural sustainability of Konya historic city center, protecting its historical identity and architectural structure, and transferring it onto next generations as liveable places all depend on the belief and efforts of the local administration in the protection of historical environment as well as urban designing activities. THE INTERACTION OF MNCS AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES: AN ANALYSIS OF STAKEHOLDER
DIALOGUE DISCOURSE FROM GEITA, TANZANIA
Albert Tibaijuka University of Basel, Switzerland
Stakeholder dialogue is progressively being purported as an effective tool for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices. A number of scholars in Public relations and beyond have argued that stakeholder dialogue is a platform that increases connectivity, brings mutual understanding and enables cooperation between two or more groups, which are at loggerheads. Of recent, the business world has witnessed many Multinational Corporations (MNCs) recognizing local communities as their stakeholders and dialoging for better CSR practices. In the vicinity of Lake Victoria, Tanzania, Geita Gold Mine (GGM), a mining company owned by Anglo Gold Ashanti based in South Africa, has for over a decade now been dialoging with its neighboring communities. Although the company's annual reports, press releases and other forms of publicity demonstrate a positive outcome of the ongoing dialogue, little has been studied from the perspective of the local communities' as well as their participation and influence in the dialogue. This study examines the local communities' understanding of, and involvement in the dialogue with the GGM. It attempts to get a deeper understanding of stakeholder dialogue based on concrete experiences of the local people in Geita, Tanzania. Central to the study is the establishment of the role played by local communities given their less influential position in the dialogue processes and limited platforms for tabling their grievances and dissatisfaction. The preliminary findings obtained through in-depth interviews conducted in Geita indicate that dialogue processes go beyond the normal sit downs that take place between the two parties. Given the observed livelihoods and narrated life experiences, local communities report to have been involved in road blocks, demonstrations, sabotage of mining facilities, intrusion of the mining concession and further incidents of the sort. Even though these events are perceived (by the government and the mining company) as 'civil disorder', the study argues that the actions are a supplement to stakeholder dialogue processes.
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SHAREHOLDER ENGAGEMENT ON CSR ISSUES: INTERNAL PROCESS OF CORPORATE SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY
Katerina Tsetsura, Nur Uysal University of Oklahoma, USA
Marquette University, USA
This paper focuses on the internal process of corporate social responsibility within publicly traded companies in which shareholders influence CSR decisions and practices. Focusing on social shareholder activists, who play a dual role as shareholders and social activists, this study questions the traditional dichotomous conceptualization of stakeholders. From a societal perspective, this study focused on shareholder role in influencing CSR decisions of publicly traded companies through social shareholder resolutions. In essence, shareholder resolutions on social issues signal an expectancy gap (Sethi, 1979) between a corporation’s policies and practices and societal demands. By identifying the legitimacy gap and initiating an engagement to address this gap, social shareholder activists can indeed contribute to the betterment of a society. Heath and Waymer (2009) argued that “the dialogue of society is best when it helps organizations be more reflective and work for legitimacy; it voices perspectives to help society be more fully functional” (p. 201). Specifically, the study addresses how shareholders can influence companies to engage in socially responsible practices. The paper presents the results of the large-scale CSR study enacted by institutional shareholders through filing resolutions at publicly traded U.S. corporations between 1997 and 2011. The study analyzed 14, 271 resolutions filed by shareholders at various publicly traded corporations over the studied time period. As a result, the authors developed and tested a model of the internal CSR process in which social shareholder activists can create positive social change within organizations. The paper argues that shareholder engagement on CSR issues can bring together divergent interests of non-shareholding stakeholders and improve corporate decision-making process. CALCULATED INDIFFERENCE: STAKEHOLDER PERCEPTIONS OF CSR IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Anastasios Theofilou, Dan Jackson, Rebecca Jenkins Bournemouth University, U.K.
Part of the ongoing process of marketization in UK higher education (HE) encourages us to think of universities more like corporations. For the most part, this is a mindset that has been embraced by universities (if not academics) and government alike, with – for example – increasingly cut-throat competition between institutions and departments promoted through the UK government’s Research Assessment Exercise, the outsourcing of non-core functions to private providers, the advent of full economic costing and the aggressive marketing of UK universities overseas as part of internationalization strategies (see Castree and Sparke, 2000). Whilst little research has shone a light on UK HE governance structures in this context, it appears that top universities are placing more emphasis on CSR and stakeholder engagement, with studies finding evidence of strategies towards environmental sustainability, fair trade, community involvement and development and ethical governance (e.g. Nejati et al., 2011). But how important is this CSR activity for a university’s key stakeholders, and the broader reputation of a university? In this paper we examine these questions. The research is conducted with prospective students, employers and teachers following both a qualitative and a quantitative approach. Employers and teachers were interviewed, while potential students were approached through focus groups. Questionnaires were distributed to all three stakeholder groups.
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In the first part of our analysis we reflect on certain elements which make reputation measurement in Higher Education distinctive or at least significantly different compared to how reputation is measured by businesses. We then move to the key findings of the study, which offer a new angle on the value of CSR investments by universities. University managers may consider CSR investment necessary especially when considering the reputation of a university and league tables; however it appears that certain stakeholders remain ambivalent as to its value. Across a range of intentions – from applying to university (students) to donating (employers) or recommending to others (teachers), whether a university acts in a socially responsible manner lags behind a number of other factors in terms of importance. The findings suggest that whilst more university resources may be being invested in appearing social responsible, key stakeholders do not see it as a crucial part of their decision making processes.
ONLINE VISIBILITY OF CSR THROUGH THE WEB. A CSR WEBSITE ANALYSIS IN A SAMPLE OF
SPANISH FOOD INDUSTRY
Clara de Uribe University of Vic, Spain
A proactive online communication is fundamental to the success of company’s core strategies; it creates dialogues and interaction with stakeholders, but not always effective. The success of the website is associated with the user experience; particularly with usability and content. In recent years, CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) strategy focused on corporate sustainability is becoming increasingly important and companies are improving CSR good practices. The objective of this study is to measure and evaluate the web communication management of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) performed by a sample of Spanish meat companies, by analyzing significant web variables of analysis applicable to the RSC information available on the corporate website. Introduction. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to companies taking responsibility for their impact on society (European Commission, 2011). Is increasingly important for business competitiveness and brings companies inner benefits in terms of management (cost savings, access to capital, human resource management, etc.). Effective communication of the corporate strategic elements such as CSR policies increases visibility policies and adds value to business practices, thereby impacting positively on reputation, competitiveness, innovation, internal cohesion of the business and corporate sustainability. Study Objectives. This study aims to identify the most frequent CSR variables in corporate communication and-, the use of 2.0 as the media business communications system, and explore the existence of a correlation of business size -it is considered that the larger companies, in terms of turnover and number of employees, communicate CSR more efficiently-. The research analyses the web pages of 130 companies, all the members of the Catalan Federation of Meat Companies (FECIC) and included in the SABI data base which provides useful information for the study of the economic and financial performance of the firms analysed.
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DIMENSIONS OF STRATEGIC CORPORATE PARTNERSHIPS: THE CASE OF INTERNATIONAL
NGOS FROM ROMANIA
Andreea Angela Vonțea, Alin Stancu Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania
Corporate entities’ broad range of stakeholders – interest factors or organizations which, in one way or another, determine its activity or the adequate course of things – require a relationship framework. With regard to partnerships, the company’s interaction with non-profit entities it is not made for this purpose in itself. This paper discusses several aspects relative to the collaboration between NGOs and businesses from the perspective of non-profit managers under a phenomenological methodology. Accordingly, there were conducted in-depth interviews with the representatives of seven international NGOs which activate in Romania. Having as a preamble their experiences relative to the general idea of partnering with companies, the analysis of the formulated statements revealed that the company’s philanthropic behavior is strongly related to the blending – within the supporting process – of subjects as communication, corporate affairs and marketing interests and only ultimately to a socially responsible approach. There are companies which have a clearly defined policy and strategy in terms of interacting with NGOS, as well as companies which have both strategy and their own foundations. The latter ones work consistently with a certain type of organizations – i.e. small ones – and which divide their prominent resources in smaller parts. Consequently, they will be directed towards an increased number of organizations not only in order to help them in their development, but also for identifying future partners as being more valuable. And then there are the corporate organizations which rely on a sporadic practice; so they act through mimicry or by the good practice implemented by a competitor. Last but not least, a particular case is represented by the ones which are tied to a certain problem within the ethics area or to a product, and then they come with a component of CSR conceived to amend several of the created issues. Acknowledgment: This paper was co-financed from the European Social Fund, through the Sectorial Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2007-2013, project number POSDRU/159/1.5/S/138907 “Excellence in scientific interdisciplinary research, doctoral and postdoctoral, in the economic, social and medical fields - EXCELIS”, coordinator The Bucharest University of Economic Studies.
ASSURING CUSTOMER'S PRIVACY - A KEY TO SUSTAINABLE BUSINESSES
Călin Vegheș, Mihai Orzan, Carmen Acatrinei The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania
Business sustainability can be achieved by organizations - which consist of people, processes, purpose and capital - and are subject to PESTEL factors (political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal), by offering products or services committed to: innovation, regular maintenance, quality management and risk management (Rowly, Saha & Ang, 2012, p. 126). The infrastructure and the tools used in order to attract and maintain the relationship with the clients should take into consideration privacy-related aspects for protecting the stakeholders. The results of a qualitative study show that Romanian customers, aged 30-40, are interested in having their private space and information about themselves well-handled and secured, both by companies and public authorities. The proper manner of collecting, processing, administration and employment of customers' data, and the rights they are entitled to, as providers of personal data, are an essential issue that might bring competitive advantages to organizations. This would lead to business excellence, that will reduce uncertainty and after a period of time would lead to business sustainability. Acknowledgement: The authors of this paper would like to thank the UEFISCDI (Executive Unit for Financing Higher Education, Research, Development, and Innovation) for the support provided in conducting this research and the dissemination of its results, through the IDEI 27/2011 research grant.
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NEXT GENERATION CSR - TOWARDS RESPONSIBLE INNOVATION
Rafal Wodzisz, Rafał Krzemianowski John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland
There is a lot of debate about the relation between CSR and innovation. A number of studies show the interdependencies and positive influence that one idea has on the other. On the other hand, adversaries depict lack of or a weak correlation between CSR and innovation. Studies that limit this linkage often explain it by referring to managerial practices or socio-demographic factors. Porter and Kramer (2006; 2011) argue that CSR can become a source of innovative practices only when business and state actors will follow the principle of shared value. Therefore, the boundaries between CSR and innovation can be exceeded only by a fundamental shift in thinking about the relation between business and society. However, what is missing in this picture is the vision of how precisely the innovative practices will look like after making that shift. In our opinion, the answer lies in the new approach towards innovation. Rapidly evolving field of responsible innovation (RI) serves as an inspiration. Authors working in this field from the outset focused their attention on the importance of engagement of stakeholders in the innovation development process. Furthermore the interests of stakeholders are expressed in terms of the values important for them. This way of putting their expectations and needs is very convenient and allows for further translation into direct ethical design of new products and services offered by firms. Responsible innovation constitutes present science and technology policy of European Union and will probably gain even more importance in the upcoming future (Horizon 2020). Therefore, it may be fruitful to put CSR in this broader policy perspective, which promotes social, economic and environmental sustainability and thus complies with goals of CSR activities. Three research questions that we would like to ask are: 1) to what extent does CSR contribute to firm’s innovativeness; 2) why CSR has only limited impact on company’s innovation practices; 3) how does the concept of responsible innovation help to overcome these limitations. These research question also form steps in our presentation.
COMMUNICATING CSR IN THE PRACTICE OF POLISH COMPANIES
Przemyslaw Wolczek Wroclaw University of Economics, Poland
Communicating the information about CSR activities (and their results) taken by the company should become the standard behaviour – like informing about the release of a new product or service. However it often happens that companies do not provide any information about their CSR projects or programs. Some of them argue that this is caused by the fear of being suspected to use CSR activities only for PR purposes, while other believe that the information about CSR activities should not be communicated, because it is an area of the company's operation, which should not be bragged about. There are also some companies that just do not know what, to whom, and how to communicate. Nevertheless it should be emphasized that communicating both successes and failures in the area of CSR can bring positive results for the company. These include, inter alia: building the company's image as a transparent organization, increasing the level of stakeholders' knowledge about the company, raising the level of customers' loyalty to the company and its products/services, increasing the motivation and productivity of employees or improving relations with the local community. In the process of communicating the company's CSR initiatives to the environment, the attention should be paid to several issues. Firstly, it is important that the company emphasizes its social commitment by adding it to its mission, vision and values. Secondly, it is
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also important whether the company has a CSR strategy and clearly communicates its goals. Thirdly, the company should also communicate the principles of cooperation with stakeholders in the process of implementing specific CSR activities. Fourthly, but not less important, is whether the company measures the impact of its CSR initiatives and communicates the results to the environment. The purpose of this paper is to present the issues associated with the CSR communication from the perspective of the practice in Polish companies. It will present the results of various studies that will allow building the picture of the CSR communication in Poland. PROMOTING CATALAN CULTURE TO THE UNITED NATIONS – AN OPPORTUNITY FOR NON
STATE CULTURAL DIPLOMACY
Lisa R. White Ramon Llull University, Spain
How does a regional government position itself within the United Nations system when it is not a “sovereign state? And what tool in its chest does it use to convey its culture to the World Body? These are the questions Catalonia, an autonomous community of Spain, must answer if it is to truly gain independence from Spain. It is my proposition, that (1) no sovereign state [1] that is currently a state gained statehood alone; coalition with other states are needed is needed and (2) if Catalonia could become a part of the United Nations apparatus it could create enough bilateral relationships beyond the European Union to build a coalition to put pressure on Spain to meaningfully address the question of Catalonia’s independence. The Catalan Government has scheduled a referendum in November for its citizens to decide whether or not they are in favor of independence, but the Spanish Supreme Court has ruled it unconstitutional in keeping with the Spanish Constitution. Major characteristics of a sovereign state are [2]: a. a defined territory on which the state exercises internal and external sovereignty; b. a permanent population; c. a government, not under the control of a foreign power; d. independence from other states and powers; and e. the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. With the exception of being under the control of Spain, Catalonia meets all the other requirements of a state. Catalonia is bordered by France and Andorra to the north, the Baleric and Mediterrean Seas to the East, and the Spanish regions of Aragon and Valencia to the West and South respectively. The official languages are Catalan, Spanish and Aranese. Seven-point-five million live there, with nearly five million living in its capital, Barcelona. And it has a thriving cultural, tourism, technological and business economy that is internationally recognized. With respect to Catalonia’s capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states, the 2006 Autonomous Agreement with Spain essentially enables Catalonia to promote its culture within its territory and abroad. The agreement specifically says Catalonia can work with are the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) [3] and the European Union. By extension Catalonia can promote its culture to the United Nations, not just to advance UN goals but also to tell its story of the century’s long cultural struggle against suppression of its freedom of expression. This is a story that has resonance with African, South American and Asian nations that were once dominated by colonial Spain. It has resonance with the UN itself, as the Trusteeship Council was specifically created to work towards self-determination of former colonies. The UN Declaration of Human Rights makes it clear that everyone has the right to freedom of expression and to a culture.
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Article 27 expressly says: “Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits; Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.” Not only is culture an internationally human right, but it is also recognized by the UN as a tool for development and a tool to facilitate its work. Historically and currently culture is used to facilitate relations between nations. DEMOS, a British Think Tank, in its publication, Cultural Diplomacy, found that Culture is a “central component of international relations” because it is both the means by which others are understood and an aspect of life with innate worth that we enjoy and seek out. [4] Cultural exchange, says the publication, gives the chance to appreciate points of commonality and, where there are differences, to understand the motivations and humanity that underlie them [5]. This Cultural Diplomacy is an informal and unofficial but powerful method of messaging and a forum for creating substantial coalitions as well as amicably resolving conflicts. While Catalonia has many of the characteristics of a state, it is not. So, it would have to affiliate itself with the United Nations through the Non-Governmental Organization platform within the Economic and Social Council and the Department of Public Information. The Catalan government couldn’t affiliate as an UN NGO because it is a governmental organization. Instead existing Catalan Cultural non-governmental organizations who are helping to drive government action with regard to Independence could affiliate. Omnium Cultural, used its World Heritage tradition of Castells (human towers) to raise awareness of it’s independence drive in numerous cities in Europe. The Ramon Llull Institute ensures that Catalan Artists attend International Concerts and is responsible for ensuring that the Catalan Language is taught in prestigious universities around the world can also affiliate as an UN NGO. More political NGOs like the Catalan National Assembly could also become members. The advantage of affiliating with the NGO community is that it gives Catalonia access to UN Facilities and events and press conferences, access to the international media, the ability to contribute to international policy, but more importantly it gives Catalonia the ability to use its culture to advance its political objective through cultural coalition building with other NGOs and UN Missions. Another advantage is that Catalan NGOs are not bound by the Autonomous agreements and can expand their coalitions beyond the European Union with NGOs who are from counties with similar histories. Catalan culture has been trampled on, suppressed, nearly exterminated by Spanish regimes since the 1600s. More recently the Francisco Franco regime (1939-1975) forbid the Catalan language from being spoken in public, burned Catalan literature, forbade Catalan traditions from being practiced. Today there are still attempts to prevent the Catalan language from being taught in schools in favor of Spanish. And Catalonia is still in a metaphorical war for independence that is fought in the social and traditional media. If Catalan Cultural Organizations were to be strategically placed within the United Nations, it could encourage Spain to think twice before prohibiting the expression of the Catalan language. It is my opinion, that Catalonia has not achieved independence from Spain, the Spanish Constitution notwithstanding because it has been fighting peaceably alone against a powerful state, and because of the psychological impact of oppression. There was a point in Catalonia’s history, after Franco died where it had the opportunity to be independent and did not take advantage it. Historically, NGOs have been and still are extremely influential. They have been responsible for the insertion of human rights language in the UN Charter; they are responsible for helping to end Apartheid; they are responsible for an eight hour work day and for the UN Declaration of Human Rights.The various UN Committees, commissions, councils, often seek advice and information from NGOs because NGOs have the time and the expertise to get to the root of issues and provide valuable information on which to make international policy decisions. NGOs provide a perspective that is often not provided by a government. The
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UN is composed of 193 states but there are more than 3,000 non-governmental organizations from all over the world working with The Organization. In conclusion, if Catalonian non-governmental organizations can affiliate with the United Nations, take advantage of opportunities that comes with NGO status while building a grassroots coalition within the World Body, then a centuries old desire is more likely to be realized. The issue of Catalonia’s independence becomes a global conversation, and not just a national one. References: A state, for the purpose of this strategy is one that possesses full sovereignty over its affairs, existence, and territory; is complete in itself and is recognized as being a legitimate nation by the other major nations in the world. http://definitions.uslegal.com/s/sovereign-state/. The United Nations created the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to specifically handle the promotion of culture. There is center in Barcelona but it is inactive at this time. Bound, Kirsten, Briggs, Rachel, Holden, John, Jones, Samuel. (2007) Cultural Diplomacy. Demos. UK. PP 1-81. Bound, Kirsten, Briggs, Rachel, Holden, John, Jones, Samuel. (2007) Cultural Diplomacy. Demos. UK. PP 1-81.
DOES WATER BRING MONEY?-CASE OF VLORA CITY
Fjona Zeneli, Lorena Alikaj “Ismail Qemali” University, Albania
Albania is blessed as a country with plentiful water resources, a portion of these reserves cover the needs of the population for drinking water. However Albania water industry presents obvious problems. Water suppliers don’t have completed the process of decentralization; losses from uncollectible bills still are covered by operational subsidies from state budged. The major of implants used are old and require investments. In most cases, are used inefficient electric pumps (General Directorate of Water Supply and Sanitation, report 2010) and one of the major costs of water providers are electricity bills. But after the year 2017, the situation is expected to change; the government subsidies will be transferred to the population´s categories in need. These firms will have to seek alternative forms of financing, to realize their activities: provision of drinking water within the standards for all citizens. One of the classic financial forms is to increase the rate paid bills. Water should be seen as a product that has a market and a price. But how citizens of Vlora city perceive this fact? Are they using alternative resources of drinking water? Why they do not pay bills water? The article aims to give an overview of water industry in Albania, problems and perspective, and especially a critical view of the situation in Vlora, focusing on the perceptions of citizens. Is this perception is correlated with losses of firms that provide drinking water? Through a structured questionnaire, about 200 families were asked and the data was processed using statistical software to identify links between agents in the water market. The main conclusion is that water from the citizens is seen as a public good, while from water suppliers is seen as a product that provides their market position and their economic sustainability. The water supplier don´t ensure full coverage, the phenomenon of illegal connections to insure drinking water of the system is present, there is a large number of populations without a contract (as unidentified clients) and also losses on the system. Let this paper be a critical view of problems of water supply in Vlora city, supported by empirical findings and recommendations according to the National Strategy of Water Supply and Sanitation and also to the directive of the European Union for Water Industry: “...the access to drinking water and sanitation should be seen as a human right”.
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THE GROUPING OF COMPANIES AS TOOL TO INTEGRATE THE PRACTICES OF THE SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY IN SME
Adel Fatima Zohra University of Béchar, Algeria
The notion of the social responsibility of the company is developed since the 90s. With the growth of the ecological and environmental preoccupations, it joins in a sustainable development, where the company undertakes to implement practices taking into account the environmental and social considerations and it is true in dialogue with their stakeholders (Shared value, porter 2010); the latter present the various actors of her environment. Contrary to the large company, The SR is weakly integrated into the strategy of the SME(small and medium-sized enterprise), for reasons of structure and financing ; even if SME put into action the practices of SR, it less remains to structure, seen her limited tools (lack of financial, human resources). These actions remain insufficient to meet the requirements of the social and environmental pressure, in more the economic requirements with large companies (relation customers-suppliers in the supply chain). The SME have to adopt an approach well-structured and completed practices of RSE, to insure their survival, but taking into account their small size and their limited resources, the SME cannot support such costs and must be integrated in networks with other SME in order to share this high costs , the "local grouping" is one of network forms: it is a concentration of the SME , nearest geographically and have a close relation between them: relations of cooperation and competitiveness, and synergy between SME and the actors of its environment, so allowing to promote the practices SR. The aim of this communication is to show the limits and the obstacles of better practice of RSE in the SME, and to present the grouping of companies as tool which develops varied action for the SME to begin a structured approach of SR.
ISSN: 2285-7222 ISSN-L: 2285-7222
